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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28163061">i'm fever dreaming (wake me up)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlooRose12371/pseuds/FlooRose12371'>FlooRose12371</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lost in Translation (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops &amp; Cafés, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Check notes for additional warnings, Fluff, Ghosts, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Death, Junsu (Lost in Translation) &amp; Kang Dongho | D.Min are Brothers, Light Angst, M/M, Necromancy, Out of Character, brother issues, implied/referenced drinking, is now a good time to mention that, is this fluff?, most other characters show up at some point, slight toxic masculinity, sure</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:35:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,081</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28163061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlooRose12371/pseuds/FlooRose12371</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Now, when Minsoo got up that morning, he wasn't exactly expecting to switch places with his alternate universe self, but, well. Here he was.</p>
<p>or, where minsoo's an idiot, junsu might be able to help, and everyone else is just here for the ride</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Junsu/Lee Minsoo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Lost in Translation Fic Discord Secret Santa</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i'm fever dreaming (wake me up)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/gifts">i_was_human</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>ok, first of all i'd just like to say that miss suki? you are an absolute legend. an icon, really. thank you so much for everything that you do for this fandom, we wouldn't really exist without you! anyways, i hope that you like your gift!!</p>
<p>me: uh do you like rarepairs? [proceeds to write like 20k about 2 characters that have never really even interacted before] oops</p>
<p>ahhhh honestly i don't know how well i fulfilled your prompt but i hope that either way you like this ^^'</p>
<p>IMPORTANT: this fic centers minsoo accidently becoming a ghost and getting the help of junsu, a necromancer, to put him back into his real body. there are mentions of death and references to it throughout the fic. if that isn't really something that you can handle, please feel free to not read this! if you do end up reading it and think that i should add more tags as warning, please tell me!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now, when Minsoo woke up that morning, he wasn’t exactly <em> planning </em> on losing Mario Kart and befalling the tragic fate placed upon him by Daehyun. He was just… not the best at video games. And yeah, he knew he spent the most time out of all of his friends playing online, but that never meant that he’d actually be <em> good </em> at them. Plus, it’s <em> Mario Kart </em> . <em> Everyone </em> sucks at Mario Kart! (except for, apparently, Daehyun.)</p>
<p>Minsoo’s gaming skills aside, the yogurt soju shots that they had done as the night gradually progressed definitely didn’t help him. So naturally, even though he’d lost all previous rounds, he just <em>had</em> to bet against Daehyun that he wouldn’t lose this round — y’know, for honor and all that shit. Winner got to dare the loser to do something stupid, the normal stakes. Minsoo totally had this in the bag, right? There was no way that someone could win every single round for an entire night, <em>right</em>? </p>
<p>Wrong.</p>
<p>Minsoo’s screeches ricocheted off the walls of his and Dongho’s shared apartment. Said roommate was currently laying on the ground, blinking slowly at the ceiling, while Jaewon was passed out on the couch.</p>
<p>“Loser!” Daehyun crowed at Minsoo, standing up and swaying dangerously as he tried to do his victory dance without tripping but dissolving into snickers upon laying his eyes back on Minsoo’s face. “Oh man, Soo-hyung, I knew you were bad at this game but really? You’ve — <em> hic </em> — lost every game we’ve played so far!”</p>
<p>Grumbling, Minsoo threw his controller at the wall, glaring harder when it landed pitifully not even halfway there. “Just shut up and give me the dare already.”</p>
<p>Daehyun just laughed. “Okay okay, jeez! No need to be so short tempered— so— s-so short—” he cut himself off to laugh harder as he keeled over, “<em> get it? because — hah — you’re so short! </em> ”, ignoring Minsoo’s growl of “ <em> Shut up for fucks sake! </em>"</p>
<p>After what felt like hours (it was only half a minute, thanks to some tasteful jabs in the knee), Daehyun’s laughter finally quieted as he wiped stray tears away from his eyes and calmed down.</p>
<p>“Okay, ready for your dare? No backing down, I’ve got a good one!” he declared. Without waiting for further input, he gestured grandly in front of himself. “You, my good friend, need to… do the stupidest thing that I can find on wikiHow!”</p>
<p>Minsoo stared back at him, unimpressed.</p>
<p>Daehyun’s grin immediately dropped into a pout. “C’mon hyung,” he whined, cheeks flushed and eyes glittering, “Who knows what good treasures you’ll find there! For all you know, you could stumble upon an article teaching you how to raise a demon or something!”</p>
<p>At Minsoo’s raised eyebrow, he tacked on “And Dongho’ll do your laundry for a month!” From the floor, Dongho’s glare cut through the dimly lit room. “See? He agrees!” His glare intensified. Daehyun ignored him.</p>
<p>Minsoo looked at Dongho, sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he bit out, because if there’s one thing Minsoo won’t do it’s back out of a dare. “Find me the stupid article.”</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Five minutes later and Minsoo just <em> knew </em> that this would lead to his downfall. The post Daehyun dredged up on Minsoo’s phone looked fake as fuck, was posted mearly an hour ago, and sounded <em> exactly </em> like something that would end up burning this god forsaken apartment building down. So, in Daehyun’s words, it was perfect.</p>
<p>Of course, they didn’t have the correct items on them to ‘Switch Places with your Alternate Universe Self!!!’, as the title proclaimed in the ugliest font Minsoo’d ever seen, so he made do. After all, who would actually go and put effort into the most obvious scam they’d ever seen? And at <em> 2:37 in the morning??? </em> Yeah, not him.</p>
<p>So he drew a pentagram in sharpie on a scrap sheet of paper, grabbed Dongho’s scented candles from the bathroom, and lit them in the same order that the wikiHow article called for. Looking down at the frankly pathetic array in front of him, he went back into his room with a sigh and pulled out the Ouija board’s planchette before plopping it down in the center of the star. <em> For aesthetic reasons </em>. Like, if you were going to do this whole draw-a-pentagram bullshit, might as well make it look cool, right? </p>
<p>Then, sitting down and back on his hands, he waited.</p>
<p>When a minute had passed and nothing had happened, he looked at Daehyun as if to say <em> see? your shitty dare sucks and nothing’s happening </em> — before noticing that he’d passed out on top of Jaewon, cuddling him at full force even in his state of complete unconsciousness. Those sappy fools. Rolling his eyes, he turned his attention back to the… <em> whatever it was </em> sitting in front of him.</p>
<p>“Oh-kay, thing, work please!” He nudged it with his foot, waiting for something to happen. It didn’t. Minsoo sighed again. Turning his phone back on, he skimmed through the article until he came upon the last paragraph.</p>
<p>“Completing the ritual. At this stage, everything should be laid out on the pentagram, and blah blah blah… ok! Making sure the candles are still lit, put your hand on the center of the pentagram, and say…” He shifted to his knees, putting his finger down on top of the planchette, and read aloud, “With mine own oth'r self, I'd liketh to switcheth.”</p>
<p>Nothing happened.</p>
<p>“This is bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.” He scowled back down at his phone, glaring at the last sentence (<em> Remember to say it with conviction! </em>), before looking back up at his finger. “With mine own oth'r self, I'd liketh to switcheth!”</p>
<p>Still nothing. Honestly, what was he expecting from a sentence probably put into an old english translator? Still, though; disappointing. He’d definitely be giving this a one star review later. But hey, you never know — third time’s the charm! Maybe something would actually happen this time!</p>
<p>Fully ready to give up, he repeated it one more time, and… still nothing. Of-fucking-course. Well, he can’t say he didn’t try, but… “Why the fuck couldn’t I just say something like, oh, I don’t know, ‘I wanna switch places with my alternate universe self, so come on out here you fucker’?”</p>
<p>Just as he finished his muttered complaints, the planchette under his finger started to glow, and he felt himself jerk forward as if to fall into the candles. What the fuck was happening? He hadn’t drunk <em> that </em> much, had he? No, he wasn’t actually moving — and yet he tumbled forward — but he <em> didn’t </em> — and felt like he was about to puke — everything was moving but it no, it <em> wasn’t </em> — <em> it wasn’t it wasn’t it wasn’t, so then why was it? </em> —- and through his hazy vision from <em> outside his body (what the actual fuck???) </em>, he saw himself slump over before everything spun too quickly and all the colors melded into grey.</p>
<p>The planchette turned dark, the candles went out, and all that was left behind was the scent of pine, peppermint and vanilla.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—●—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Junsu sighed in boredom, before smashing his head back onto the counter. God, slow days at the shop were the worst. There was nothing here to keep him busy, besides the ticking of the wall clock or reorganizing the various wares and ingredients stacked on the tall shelves for the millionth time.</p>
<p>Yeah, some might say that working in a medium’s shop was an interesting choice, and for quite a few reasons. For one, the magical side of the world, while not a <em> secret </em>, per se, wasn’t really talked about, and generally frowned upon. The only reason that people came to these shops was if they required its services and knew of how to obtain them, or if they were ‘in the know’ through familiar ties. There were probably tons of people out there who didn’t even know that there was a magical side to their world. And Junsu didn’t blame them.</p>
<p>For two, it was a <em> medium’s </em> shop. Not just a standard run of the mill witch’s shop, but a shop that specialized in death. Most people would want to stay clear of places like that.</p>
<p>However, most people weren’t Junsu or his customers, so.</p>
<p>Only three people had come into the shop that day, which was to be expected, really, as it was still their slow season, but <em> still </em> . <em> Only three </em>. </p>
<p>One of them had been looking for a certain brand of silver bowls for their own scrying purposes, another was a harrowed young man looking for some way to bring his child’s pet hamster back to life before she came home, and the third wanted to know if they did warding tattoos or not (Junsu did, but none of the tattoos that he offered were ‘aesthetic’ enough for the customer).</p>
<p>Needless to say, Junsu was bored out of his mind.</p>
<p>Nari, the only other employee at this goddamn shop (besides Taehyuk, this kid who only worked in the summers), wasn’t even doing shifts with him anymore. No, she was scheduled to come back from her ‘extended leave unless you need me’ once the cold started to settle in, so that they could handle the crowds that came with that together. </p>
<p>That left Junsu, alone and forever bored, for the next two weeks.</p>
<p>Knowing that nobody else was going to show up in the next 7 minutes before the store closed, Junsu decided to call it a day and start to clean up the store for tomorrow.</p>
<p>He made his way over to the antique looking sink basin in the corner before dampening a rag and grabbing a neutralizing crystal and spray bottle with Nari’s homemade cleaning solution to wipe down the counter.</p>
<p>Honestly, if it was up to Junsu, he wouldn’t be using <em> any </em> homemade cleaning solution to disinfect <em> anything </em> — but Nari was his manager, and she insisted that everything be kept up to her standard of excellence, which, apparently, included using the potentially hazardous cleaning solution.</p>
<p>Sighing, he aimed the spray bottle at the counter, put his finger on trigger, aaaand… the spray bottle let out the weakest trickle of disinfectant Junsu had ever seen.</p>
<p>This had to be a sign. It <em> had </em> to be.</p>
<p>There wasn’t even a reason for cleaning the counter today! He hadn’t had to use it for any arrays (the dead hamster’s spirit hadn’t wanted to come back to life, so Junsu had told the man to just go to the pet shop and find one that looked vaguely similar and hope for the best), and he <em> knew </em> that it was still as clean as it had been the day before, since <em> he </em> had been the one to clean it.</p>
<p>But he could hear Nari’s voice in his head, shrieking about violating health codes if he didn’t wipe down the counter, since <em> we offer tattoo’s and the government could take us down if they even </em> looked <em> at that counter once </em> (Junsu isn’t sure that that’s how health codes work, but okay), so it looked like, unfortunately for him, he’d be wiping down the counter.</p>
<p>Resigning himself to his sad, sad fate, he began to mournfully wipe at the puddle of disinfectant.</p>
<p>And then his cellphone rang.</p>
<p>Putting aside his immediate confusion (who even calls in this day and age? And why would they call <em> him </em> of all people?), he grabbed the phone out of his pocket and, after swiping to answer it, brought it up to his ear.</p>
<p>“Hello?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Junsu-yah!” came a cheerful voice form the other side of the line. Of course it was Nari-noona, of course it was. She probably had nothing better to do other than bother him. “How are you, my favorite dongsaeng?”</p>
<p>“What is it, noona?” Junsu rolled his eyes (affectionately), before continuing. “You never say that unless you have something you want from me.”</p>
<p>“What?” Nari’s offended squawk screeched through the speaker, and Junsu jerked the phone away from his ear before returning it a second later. “How could you even assume such a thing, I’m hurt.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” Junsu responded, “I’m so sure that you are.”</p>
<p>“Anyways,” Nari continued as if she couldn’t hear him, “I was just calling to… inform you,” she said.</p>
<p>“Ominous.”</p>
<p>“I know!” her voice curled up in delight. “So you know, I was just looking at my crystal ball, totally normal stuff, and I saw something very interesting in it; you’ll encounter it at the store in, oh, I don’t know, a few hours from now.”</p>
<p>“And what does <em> any </em> of what you just said mean, exactly?”</p>
<p>Nari audibly rolled her eyes at him over the phone, which Junsu wasn’t even sure was possible, but she did it, so. “Okay, fine. Basically, I wanted to inform you that something big’s coming your way.”</p>
<p>Junsu huffed out a breath that he was sure she could hear over the line. “And how big are we talking? Because the last time you said something big was coming, it was your shipment of premium tea.”</p>
<p>“And you loved that tea, thank you very much,” Nari sniped back at him, “even though you give off the biggest black-coffee drinker vibes with your height and tattoos and general personality. But no, if you must know, it’s bigger than that. Try closer to the size of an actual person.”</p>
<p>Now this had Junsu’s attention. “I’m going to ignore what you said about the black coffee trope and me fitting into it. But when you say the size of an actual person, do you happen to mean a really really <em> really </em>big package of tea, or are you saying that we’re gonna get an interesting customer soon?” He teased at her.</p>
<p>“Well, Junsu-yah,” Nari laughed back, “That’s for me to know and for you to find out!” Then she hung up on him without even a goodbye. Typical.</p>
<p>Junsu looked down at his phone for a few seconds, watching as the screen faded to black and his reflection stared back at him. Something big, huh.</p>
<p>He stuffed his phone back into his apron pocket before staring down dejectedly at the rag now sitting on the counter. Looked like he’ll have to keep his eyes peeled for an interesting customer, then. In the meantime, however, he had a counter to clean.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Okay, so — Minsoo had seen a lot of… abnormal stuff before. He’d been to college, seen people doing whatever they could to try and not fail midterms and finals, been to frat parties and seen all the crazy shit that went down. He had been pretty sure that at this rate, <em> nothing </em> could phase him.</p>
<p>Well.</p>
<p>This? This was anything but normal. For starters, <em> normally </em> the ground wasn’t supposed to be the color of oxblood. <em> Normally </em> , the grass wasn’t supposed to be dull red. There weren’t usually towers of <em> marble </em> spiraling upwards, jutting out of the ground like tall, dead trees, stripped of their branches and leaves. Oh, and also? The people walking around? Generally <em> weren’t fucking see through </em>.</p>
<p>But yeah! This was all <em> totally </em> normal stuff! Minsoo wasn’t freaking out <em> at all. </em></p>
<p>After pinching himself on his (<em> fucking see through!!! </em> ) arm to make sure that this wasn’t a dream (it wasn’t, that pinch hurt like <em> hell </em>), he spun around in a few circles, attempting to find something to latch onto, something that was familiar in this unfamiliar place. Thankfully, that something happened to walk up to him, sparing him from doing something embarrassing like face planting into the dirt.</p>
<p>“Minsoo-yah!” Minyoung called, a wide grin on her face as she walked up to Minsoo. He blinked a few times, brain attempting to process the familiar honorific that had just left her mouth, before plastering an awkward smile on his face in an attempt to match hers.</p>
<p>Since when were they so familiar with each other? Last time he checked, they were acquainted through Daehyun, but they weren’t <em> that </em> close. Also, wasn’t she younger then him? </p>
<p>Huh. Maybe Minsoo had just… forgotten about their friendship and all details about her or something! Yeah. Temporary memory loss was a hangover thing, right?</p>
<p>“Uh, hi… noona.”</p>
<p>She looked around them, radiating positivity as she assessed their surroundings. “So, what’s the itinerary for today? You wanna check out the beach? I heard that they finally got rid of the fire crab infestation, thank goodness. Or we could head into the city and try to find something to do down there! Oh wait! I heard a new McDonald’s just opened up, we could go check that out! Or or or, we could—”</p>
<p>Noticing Minsoo’s open confusion, she chuckled nervously and came to a halt. “Did you… forget that we were meeting up today? I didn’t get the wrong day, did I? Shit—” She pulled out her phone, opening the calendar app. “I mean, yeah it’s possible <em> I </em> got the wrong day,” she frowned down at her screen, “but yeah, nope, it’s Tuesday. Ah ha!” she cried triumphantly, “That means you’re wrong, Soo-yah! What do you have to explain yourself, huh?”</p>
<p>Minsoo panicked — this was a social interaction that he wasn’t yet equipped to handle. How the hell was he supposed to respond to her? Not the same way he would to Dongho, that’s for sure (calling Minyoung a tall-ass motherfucker didn’t seem like the best way to approach her), but then what?</p>
<p>Taking a deep breath and channeling his inner Sasha Fierce, he decided to pick the (arguably worst) option of: responding like himself.</p>
<p>“Ha ha ha forget? What?” he shot her finger guns, continuing awkwardly (<em> just </em> how bad <em> at this can I get? </em> ) “Me? No, I could <em> never </em> forget our lovely friendship that manifests itself as outings to random places around the city! Ha ha ha, of course not!” ( <em> really bad. that was the answer </em>).</p>
<p>Minyoung quirked an eyebrow at him, hands on her hips. “Oh, don’t give me that. You definitely forgot.”</p>
<p>Minsoo felt his neck and ears flush. Well fuck, no use in pretending about that anymore. “Yeah, I really did, didn’t I.” He rubbed sheepishly at his neck, before deciding that he might as well be as forward with the truth as he could be. Well, with what he knew as of now.</p>
<p>“I just, you know, don’t actually… know where I am right now? And kinda don’t remember anything about this place…” he finished meekly, watching as Minyoung’s eyebrow arched up in surprise.</p>
<p>“Huh,” was all she let out. Then she nodded her head. “Yeah, that happens down here.”</p>
<p>“Down… where?”</p>
<p>“Down here. The Underworld,” she clarified.</p>
<p>
  <em> Uh. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The What. </em>
</p>
<p>Noticing Minsoo’s inner panic, she laughed. “I should probably start from the beginning, shouldn’t I!”</p>
<p>“Well, where to begin! Hm. I guess that you might have noticed by now, but we aren’t exactly,” she waved her hand, “...<em> opaque </em>, I guess. Well, that’s because we’re dead!”</p>
<p>Minsoo’s jaw dropped.</p>
<p>“We didn’t even die a very cool death though — and oh yeah! We’re death buddies! Y’know, since we died together and everything. Anyways, back to how we died, we were driving with Minsung-hyung and a couple other people before…” She sobered quickly here. “Well, before the accident happened. But!” She quickly added in, a smile back on her face, “We were the only two to die! Everyone else is still a-okay”. She nodded to herself, making an ok symbol, pinching her fingers together.</p>
<p>“Anyways! We died, so we came down here, to The Underworld!” she spun around, arms thrown out around her. “And we’re just chilling here until we eventually get employed to go back into the Overworld to haunt people, or you know, actually do stuff. So for now, we’re, you know, just… kinda chilling, until we eventually… find something else to do.” She nodded at him, an awkward grin on her face.</p>
<p>Minsoo opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again, only to close it yet again. He felt like a fish. Great.</p>
<p>“Any questions?” Minyoung chirped at him.</p>
<p>Dazed, Minsoo replied, “Uh… nope! Definitely not. Absolutely none! Ha ha.” <em> Get it together man, come on. </em> “Uh, actually wait yes.” He racked his brain, and the wikiHow article’s title ( <em> Switch Places with your Alternate Universe Self!!! </em>) flashed behind his eyelids. Oh shit. </p>
<p>“Oh shit,” he voiced aloud, faintly.</p>
<p>“What, what? What’s going on?” Minyoung looked around, trying to find whatever was bothering him.</p>
<p>“Oh, um, nothing! It’s nothing. I just wanted to know um, how, we… uh, how well we knew each other in the Overworld!” He cleared his throat. “Like, before we died? Yeah.”</p>
<p>Minyoung squinted at Minsoo. </p>
<p>Minsoo panicked. He squinted back.</p>
<p>For some reason, Minyoung deemed that an acceptable answer. “Damn, today must really suck for you, huh. Oh, well, you know, I was good friends with your brother, and the two of you were always attached at the hip, so obviously through commutative property I became your good friend too. Though I will say that I wasn’t as close to you as Minsung was. You two were, like, best friends up until you died.”</p>
<p>Minsoo winced at her blunt words. Then thought about his relationship with Minsung back in <em> his </em> world. Then winced again. Ouch. “Ah. Makes sense.”</p>
<p>Minyoung nodded her head a few times, before rocking back onto her heels. “So… I know that this is kinda a lot to digest, but would it help to take your mind off of things if we just went to the city? We can do something fun to try and distract you until you remember,” she smiled softly at him, unsure.</p>
<p>“Y-yeah, sure why not! That might” (lies lies lies) “help!” (with what, regaining memories that he never had?) He smiled back at her, and she started to lead him over to the (super high tech fancy Underworld) train station, because that was a thing that apparently existed.</p>
<p>Then he remembered something. “Hey wait. Did you say McDonald’s? Aren’t we in the afterlife?”</p>
<p>She winked at him, barely hiding her amusement. “Well, Soo-yah, corporate food chains have managed to worm their way into cities everywhere in the world! Why wouldn’t The Underworld be any different? Plus, we aren’t going <em> just </em> for the food…” she trailed off, eyes clouding over.</p>
<p>“Uhhhh okay. That’s not weird at all. Please tell me you’re not going there to like, murder someone or something? Wait can you even kill someone if they’re already dead, how would that even <em> work </em>—”</p>
<p>“I’m not going to kill someone!” Minyoung snapped at him, pouting. “How dare you think so lowly of me. I’m just going to see… <em> her </em>.”</p>
<p>Minsoo’s brain gears turned a few times before he groaned. “Oh my fucking god, if you’re taking me to be your wingman at a McDonald’s I think I’m going to throw up. I do <em> not </em>need to see a fucking grandma try and flirt with, what, the McDonald’s man? The fucking clown?” He snorted.</p>
<p>“How dare you, she is the mother fucking <em>cashier</em>—” she hissed back, “not a <em>fucking</em> <em>clown</em>. You will <em>not</em> slander her name like that!”</p>
<p>Minsoo put his hands up, eyes wide as his shoulders shook from repressing his giggles. “Calm down noona, I don’t even know her!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and you’ll stay away from her if you know what’s good for you,” she grouched, but smirked to show she was just joking.</p>
<p>They faded into a comfortable silence.</p>
<p>“Wait a second — did you call me <em> grandma </em>?!” Minyoung squawked out, “I’m like a year older than you!!! And at least I’m not some short gremlin child!”</p>
<p>“A short <em> gremlin child </em>?! Seriously?”</p>
<p>“Yeah!”</p>
<p>“Yeah?!?”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Do you need me to say it again or are you too short to even hear me?”</p>
<p>“That’s not even how it <em> fucking works! </em> ”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, what did you say? Your pipsqueak voice was too hard for me to hear from all the way up here!!!”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’m sorry, did your hearing start to go with your age too?”</p>
<p>
  <em> “Yah!!!” </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—●—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Junsu stifled a yawn into his hand. Working all shifts of the shop wore down on him, but hey, he got paid well, so maybe it was worth it. Plus, it wasn’t like Junsu <em> didn’t </em> like doing what he did, he just didn’t like the unavoidable lulls of traffic between customers and the boredom that came with them.</p>
<p>But thankfully, he had already gotten one customer that morning, which was already better than most days.</p>
<p>Resting his head on the counter, he looked at the too close wood for a few moments before giving in and closing his eyes, then immediately jerking back up right into a sitting up position with a perfectly straightened spine. <em> Ugh. </em> He needed some background music to keep himself awake; sitting here in silence wasn’t going to work.</p>
<p>Turning on his phone, he started his miscellaneous playlist that mostly consisted of random mainstream english indie hits from 2013 before slouching back over the counter, faint upbeat guitar emitting from the skull shaped speakers placed around the shop.</p>
<p>(Nari insisted that everything fit into the greater theme of ‘spooky, scary and maybe a little sexy’ at the shop, and as much as Junsu would love to refute that decision, it was her shop and not his. However, she was <em> not </em> here to yell at him for his music choices more closely reflecting that of a coffee shop’s, so suck it, Nari.)</p>
<p>Hearing the jingle of the front door, he lifted his head up to see 4 people walk into the store — one short, silver haired, two others, one red head, one blond, cheerfully walking arm in arm (though draped on each other might be more realistic), and the forth, a tall person who was facing away from the counter before… oh.</p>
<p>It was Dongho.</p>
<p>“Hi, welcome to Hex You, what can I do for you today?” His bored drawl filled the air. Multiple pairs of eyes widened before catching him sitting behind the large wooden counter. He waved slightly.</p>
<p>Dongho nodded at Junsu. “Jun-yah.”</p>
<p>Junsu nodded back. “Hyung.”</p>
<p>Dongho sighed, running his hand through his hair, before looking at the other friends of his he had brought with him. “Okay. Junsu, this is Jaewon, Daehyun, and… Minsoo.”</p>
<p>Junsu noted the pause before the last one’s name before leaning back in his chair.</p>
<p>“I can introduce myself, you know,” the blonde one, Daehyun, grumbled. “Seriously hyung, I’m not in <em> kindergarten </em>,” he crossed his arms petulantly over his chest.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but you might as well be,” the red head, Jaewon, shot back, “what with the amount of brain cells you have up here, babe.” Jaewon poked Daehyun in the temple a few times.</p>
<p>Daehyun drew back in mock offense. “Did— did you just insult me?” he squawked, before looking at Dongho. “Hyung, did you just see him insulting me?”</p>
<p>Dongho stared at Daehyun in silence, answering for him. Daehyun pouted at him. “Wow, I can’t <em> believe </em> that I call you guys my friends sometimes—”</p>
<p>“Okay, anyways,” Dongho interjected, looking back at Junsu apologetically before continuing. “What we <em> came </em> here for,” he looked pointedly at Daehyun, “was to see if you could help us out with… Minsoo.”</p>
<p>Again, the awkward pause. What was up with this ‘Minsoo’ that was causing Dongho to act so skittish about him?</p>
<p>“Yeah?” Junsu said, standing up and walking around the counter. “What’s up with him?”</p>
<p>Dongho closed his eyes, as if trying to calm himself before giving the story. “Well, here’s the thing. Last night, this idiot,” he tilted his head towards Daehyun, “dared Minsoo, <em> our </em> Minsoo, to do the stupidest thing he could find on wikiHow.”</p>
<p>“As one does,” Junsu slowly nodded in understanding. He, too, had been subject to many bad dares from his friends over the years.</p>
<p>Dongho looked at him in thinly masked disappointment. “... sure. Anyways, he ended up finding him an article on how to switch places with an alternate universe’s version of yourself, and, Minsoo, like the idiot he is, did it. And then this morning we woke up with <em> this </em> person in his body instead of Minsoo. <em> Our </em> Minsoo, I mean,” he hastily corrected himself, shaking his head as if to clear his mind.</p>
<p>Junsu looked back at… not-Minsoo. Huh. “Okay, but… what does this have to do with me? Why did you come to a medium’s shop, of all things? I mean, I can give you the address for the local general witch’s shop, this is probably more up their alley than mine.”</p>
<p>Here not-Minsoo spoke up. “Well, that’s the thing. I’m pretty sure that last I checked, I was dead, and in my universe’s Underworld, so.”</p>
<p>Dongho glanced at not-Minsoo before responding. “See? You get why we had to come to you, then?”</p>
<p>Junsu nodded slowly, before looking at not-Minsoo to confirm his hypothesis. “You’re saying that, if you, the previously dead Minsoo, are now here, in roommate-Minsoo’s very much alive body, then somewhere, roommate-Minsoo is… a ghost. Presumably in the other universe.”</p>
<p>“Yes,” not-Minsoo confidently affirmed.</p>
<p>“Okay, wait, so. Recap, because I’ll need all the details correct on this. You’re saying that your-roommate-Minsoo,” he pointed at Dongho, “decided to do a wikiHow summoning and switch consciouses with his alternate universe self, who happens to be dead.”</p>
<p>“… yes,” Dongho said slowly.</p>
<p>“And now, not-Minsoo here is the dead one in your-roommate-Minsoo’s body.”</p>
<p>“… yeah.”</p>
<p>“And when did you realize that you had the wrong one?” Junsu looked at Dongho.</p>
<p>“Well…” he shifted his weight on his feet before continuing, “When I woke up, I guess? I mean, he actually told me ‘good morning’, with like, manners and shit, which is weird. And then he just sat down and looked at everything in the flat, and <em> then </em> he asked me where Minsung was, and. That’s when I knew something was really up.” While his face gave away nothing, his tone betrayed just how concerned he actually was, implying the severity of the situation. Junsu decided that concern was not a good look on him.</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” he said, “And what did the summoning circle look like?”</p>
<p>“Regular, run-of-the-mill pentagram drawn on a piece of paper with black sharpie, with my scented candles on the points and a planchette in the center,” he rattled off the list like it was an everyday commodity to take note of exactly what a regular pentagram consisted of. Jaewon and Daehyun looked at him, then at each other, and back again in awe.</p>
<p>Junsu chewed at his lip. “Why did he put the planchette there? And also the summoning had to be vocally inaugurated then, good to know.”</p>
<p>At the question, Dongho just shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not on the wikiHow article to put it there, and there’s no other reason to, considering this was a simple conscience switch, so… aesthetic purposes, I guess?”</p>
<p>“Interesting,” Junsu mused, before thinking back in his mind, already trying to figure out a way to unswitch the two Minsoos. “So what would you like me to do about it?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Dongho said, sighing with his shoulders, “I had the thought that even though our Minsoo is in another universe, he’s now a… ghost,” he looked at not-Minsoo for confirmation, who gave him a thumbs up, “so you might be able to summon him here anyways.”</p>
<p>Junsu thought about it for a second. Yeah, that was pretty sound as far as thoughts from Dongho went, but could he actually pull it off? It felt like it should work.</p>
<p>“Okay, look.” He directed this at all four of them. “I technically <em> should </em> be able to do this, right,” he paused as he made eye contact with each one of them in turn, “but I don’t know for sure. And the thing is, that if you decide that you want me to commence with the summoning, and it doesn’t summon him here, your Minsoo <em> shouldn’t </em> be harmed. However, I have no way of knowing if he’ll be summoned or not. I’ve never done anything like this before.”</p>
<p>Satisfied with his warnings and deeming them thorough enough, he leaned back onto the counter. “Of course, though, I am still willing to try and do the summoning for him. I just wanted you guys to know the possible dangers going into this.”</p>
<p>Dongho looked around at his friends, before turning back to Junsu with a determined glint in his eyes. “I think we can all agree that this risk is necessary.”</p>
<p>Junsu looked at everyone, and, seeing them nodding their heads in confirmation, turned back to Dongho with a ghost of a smile. “Well then, I can summon him here right now for you if you’d like.”</p>
<p>Dongho looked at him with a soft look in his eye, whatever that meant. “I’d like that, thank you.” </p>
<p>Junsu turned around so that he could start to gather the necessary utensils and ingredients. “It’s my job, hyung. No big deal.”</p>
<p>“It still means a lot to me.”</p>
<p>“Like I said,” he said, smiling faintly at Dongho as he walked to the back of the shop, “it’s no big deal, hyung.”</p>
<p>(“Wait, so, Dongho-hyung, how did you even know to come here?” Daehyun questioned. “I didn’t even know mediums were real, but you knew about this entire <em> shop </em> already?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, hyung,” Jaewon asked, siding with Daehyun, “how did you know?”</p>
<p>Dongho opened his mouth to answer, but Junsu beat him to it. “Well, you know, you generally pay attention to where your brother works, even if you haven’t bothered to check in on them for months.”</p>
<p>Dongho glared half heartedly at Junsu. “It’s you who hasn’t been in touch with me, brat, get it right.” </p>
<p>Junsu rolled his eyes back at him, and when they glanced over Daehyun and Jaewon, had to suppress his snickers as he saw their jaws hanging open.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This was getting kinda ridiculous. Minsoo could’ve swore that only a second ago he was standing with Minyoung, ordering their McMeals, before a swoopy feeling arose in his stomach and he felt himself backflip out of existence. The sad thing was, Minyoung probably didn’t even notice his disappearance, with how heavily she was flirting with the blonde woman across the counter. It really do be that way sometimes.</p>
<p>When the black spots had cleared from his eyes, he realized that he was doubled over in a… shop? Of some sort? Deciding that this summoning gig was simply too much for him to handle, he leaned over onto the counter in an attempt to stop the spinning of his head.</p>
<p>“What the fuuuuuuck,” he let out, squeezing his eyes shut. Gradually the feeling of dying faded slightly and he was able to let his senses out around him. That was when he realized that he had an audience.</p>
<p>“Glad that you could join us, Minsoo-ssi.”</p>
<p><em>Huh? </em> He lifted his head up, only to be met with a dull red apron clad chest. So he lifted his head some more — <em> are those tattoos? damn thats kinda hot </em> — and eventually made eye contact with the best looking man he’d ever seen.</p>
<p><em> Am I dreaming? Actually better question, am I drooling? Please do not be drooling in front of the hot guy oh my god Minsoo couldn’t you just </em> not <em> be a disaster gay for once in your </em> goddamn life <em> are you </em> kidding <em> me— </em></p>
<p>The mystery man cleared his throat. “Anyways,” he shifted his gaze to four people huddled around the center of the clearing, “That’s all I can do for now. You can come back with not-Minsoo-ssi when the full moon occurs, which—” he checked the calendar behind him, “will be in approximately 3 weeks, at the end of this month. If you have any other questions, you can always come back and schedule a meeting to discuss them, but if that's all…”</p>
<p><em>I have no clue what any of these words mean, </em>Minsoo thought to himself.</p>
<p>“Now wait, hold on a second, Junsu-ssi—” Daehyun (<em> Daehyun! oh wait were those his friends standing there </em>, he squinted his eyes) interjected, “You haven’t done jack-shit yet. There’s no one here!” He gestured to the left of Minsoo. </p>
<p>“Damn, Dae, that’s kinda fucking rude of you,” he grouched. “I know I’m short, but I’m not <em> that </em> short!” Junsu (that was what Daehyun had called him, wasn’t it?) snorted before turning back to Daehyun.</p>
<p>“You wouldn’t be able to see him if you tried. Only people who are naturally attuned to this special type of energy can see him.”</p>
<p>
  <em> Fucking what? </em>
</p>
<p>“Ah. You probably have some questions, so to put this simply,” Junsu calmly filled him in, somehow sensing his confusion, “your ‘alternate universe’ thing worked, you switched bodies with the other Minsoo who was dead, and now I have summoned <em> you </em> back into your universe so that we can un-switch you two,” he stated matter-of-factly.</p>
<p>“What the fuck.”</p>
<p>“Oh, and none of your friends can actually see or hear you right now since you’re still technically a ghost.</p>
<p>“<em> What the fuck. </em>”</p>
<p>Daehyun cleared his throat. “So… the summoning worked then? It would be awkward if it didn’t and you were just talking to thin air trying to scam us. Not that I’m doubting your abilities!” he yelped, eyes wide as Junsu glared at him, “I just wanna make sure Minsoo’s here and not, you know, still stuck in the underworld or something, ha ha… ha...” he trailed off weakly, shooting finger guns at Jun. Peak social skills right there, people. Watch in awe.</p>
<p>“Yeah, he’s there.” Dongho was watching Minsoo’s general form with narrowed eyes. “I can’t <em> really </em> see him, because I’m not that good with this stuff, but I can see a blurry shape, and I assume it’s him.” </p>
<p>“Oh good,” Jaewon said, breaking out in a smile, “Now we can tell him that Daehyun broke his favorite mug this morning! Oh and that we missed you too, of course,” he hastily tacked on after seeing Daehyun's glare of betrayal.</p>
<p>“Of-fucking-course he did,” Minsoo groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. </p>
<p>Daehyun’s eyes followed Dongho’s gaze, (but they still didn’t find Minsoo, gaze pinned somewhere on the wall to his right), as he nervously fidgeted with his sleeve. “I— he’s not, like, mad at me or anything, is he?” he whined out. “The mug was a mistake, I promise!”</p>
<p>“Make a fucking guess, dickwad.”</p>
<p>“He said no, he isn’t mad,” summed up Junsu, translating for them. Minsoo kicked a leg out at him and it passed through Junsu’s knee. “Okay, fine, he said ‘make a fucking guess, dickwad’.” He rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>Daehyun squawked in outrage.</p>
<p>“Deserve,” Jaewon said solemnly.</p>
<p>“Jaewonnie-hyung, how could you?” Daehyun dramatically clutched a hand to his chest, before heaving a sigh that would put any soap opera actress to shame, flopping his other arm over his eyes. “I trusted you!”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Dongho interjected, “I really only have one other question for Jun, then. Hey, not-Minsoo-ssi—”</p>
<p>
  <em>Not-who?</em>
</p>
<p>Minsoo’s head snapped to the left. There, standing near the door, was… well, <em> him </em> . But evidently not, because <em> this </em> Minsoo was standing as if he didn’t belong there, shifting his weight from foot to foot in anticipation of… something. Being kicked out? It didn’t matter; what did was that this clearly wasn’t him. It was more like…</p>
<p>…<em> like this person didn’t belong in that body. </em></p>
<p>“—come here, would you?” Dongho turned his sharp gaze back onto Junsu, gaze fixed at his face. “Do you have any recommendations for what we can do with not-Minsoo-ssi in the meantime until the full moon?”</p>
<p>Junsu hummed in thought. “Well, there isn’t anything in particular that needs to be done with this Minsoo until then, so not really, no. The most you could do as of now is treat him like a guest — someone who isn’t familiar with the interactions in this world.”</p>
<p>Dongho sighed, but nodded his head as he turned away. “Okay. Thanks, then. In that case, we’ll be heading out,” he voice rose at the end, as he turned and grabbed Daehyun by the hoodie, dragging him away as he stuck his tongue out at Jaewon. Dongho then tilted his head towards the door, trusting that Jaewon and not-Minsoo would follow him out.</p>
<p>“Oh, and Jun-yah! You better call me before the end of this month or I’ll start putting up missing posters for you!” he threatened from the doorway. “Just because you don’t want people to know that we’re brothers doesn’t mean you have to pretend you don’t have one!”</p>
<p>Junsu grunted.</p>
<p>“Wait! What are you gonna do with me?” Minsoo called out after them, confused. Nobody answered him.</p>
<p>“Thanks again, Junsu-ssi!” Jaewon smiled, happily trailing through the door. Not-Minsoo quietly nodded his head before following.</p>
<p>The overhead door bell jingled. Silence settled, thick. Uncomfortable. Minsoo needed to change that. Also, he needed to get his damn questions answered.</p>
<p>“No, actually, what are you gonna do with me, though?” He turned around, looking at Junsu, who had already begun to put things away — a silver bowl, a jar, some salt — before running his hand through his hair and beginning to pace. </p>
<p>“I mean, what can I do? I’m a <em> ghost </em> for fucks sake. And it’s not like I can live in my apartment right now, since the other me’s gonna be staying there, because he got the tangible body out of this situation, so then I don’t have a place to stay, or to <em> sleep </em> , oh my god do ghosts even need to sleep? Is that, like, a thing that they do? Wait, do they have to eat? Actually, <em> can </em> they eat?” He shook his head, blinking his eyes rapidly. ”That’s not important. What <em> is </em> important is knowing if I can touch things — actually wait, no, what’s important is if I can— hey, what are you looking at me like that for?!” He broke off, spluttering.</p>
<p>Junsu raised an eyebrow up at him lazily. “You done ranting?”</p>
<p>Minsoo scowled at him.</p>
<p>“Well, since you are asking.” Junsu leaned against the counter. “We were planning on letting you hang around the shop, since it’s the only place that has people that can actually see you. I thought that you might want to be around people that you can talk to, since Dongho mentioned that you’re a chatterbox.”</p>
<p>And oh no — that’s a sincere answer. Fuck. If there’s one thing Minsoo can’t handle, it’s emotions (<em> Minsung-hyung always used to say he was allergic to them </em> (shut—)), and he needs to do something — <em> anything </em> — to try and de-serious-ize the situation. Operation fuckboy, <em> go! </em></p>
<p>“Oh, so you’re saying that you <em> don’t </em> want me to stay around here because of my boyish charms and handsome good looks, then?” He tucked his hair behind his ear in slow motion, winking and biting his lip at the same time (and he refrained from doing a body roll, because he wasn’t <em> that </em> tacky, thank you very much).</p>
<p>Junsu’s ears flared pink, but his face stayed void of emotion. “No.”</p>
<p>“Oh?” He blinked his eyes in surprise. “Wait. So you do, then?”</p>
<p>“Wh—” he cut himself off, breathing through his nose heavily. “No! I’m telling you that staying here would give you something to do before the next full moon occurs! Also, being alone while you’re a ghost would really suck for you, and you might become unstable and <em>then</em> become a ghoul, and <em>then</em> <em>I’d</em> have to banish you out of my own generosity for the safety of the community around us, so <em>really</em> I’m just saving <em>myself</em> from having to do future work.” He crossed his arms, chest heaving as he tried to catch a breath. </p>
<p>“Really, is that what it is?” Minsoo couldn’t help himself, a teasing lilt entering his voice as he raised an eyebrow at Junsu’s flustered appearance.</p>
<p>His ears flushed darker — but Junsu just scowled and walked to the back of the store. </p>
<p>“What, now you’re running away?” He smiled at his back.</p>
<p>“Fuck off, Minsoo-ssi.” Junsu muttered. “Not everything’s about you — I have a shop to close.”</p>
<p>“Call me hyung! And also, you never know, it might be.” He called out, snickering as Junsu flipped him off.</p>
<p>Minsoo thought back to the conversation that they had just had as Junsu continued closing up the shop for the night. Huh. It was very considerate of him to let him stay around here, actually. Even more to take in the fact that he didn’t do well without people around. Maybe these next three weeks wouldn’t be as bad as he thought, if he’d have someone like Junsu to spend them with.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—●—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Minsoo was… interesting, to say the least. Loud might have been another word to describe him. What else? Sharp-tongued, annoying, snarky? Probably.</p>
<p>To be completely honest though, Junsu liked having Minsoo hanging around him. He was a change from the usual, dull monotony that unfortunately came with his job. Sure, his humor wasn’t all that different from Nari’s, but Minsoo’s teasing and needling came from an outsider’s perspective on his job and life. It was like a breath of fresh air after being stuck in a stuffy closet for too long.</p>
<p>Really, the saddest thing about having Minsoo suddenly around him 24/7 was that it reminded Junsu of just how lonely he usually was. Yeah, he had friends, quite a lot of them actually (though it could be argued that they were only Nari’s friends, Junsu liked to think that they were his as well). But when was the last time he’d talked to someone face to face that wasn’t a customer of some sort?</p>
<p>A long time. That was the answer.</p>
<p>But yeah. Talking with Minsoo was different. And fun. He had new jokes that Junsu hadn’t heard before, little commentaries about <em> everything </em> (“ <em> are those — does this say frozen cubes of </em> mugwort root <em> ? why the hell would you even freeze that, the fuck,” </em>), and in general, was just fairly easy to talk to.</p>
<p>At present, the ghostly man was sitting on the counter, swinging his legs. “So, Junsu-yah,” he said, winking at him for the honorific, “who painted that door over there?”</p>
<p>“Which door?” Junsu asked, face remaining neutral.</p>
<p>“The front one. You know, the bright, peeling turquoise door with the orange and yellow paint peeking out from beneath it?”</p>
<p>Junsu turned to face said door. “Oh, that one.”</p>
<p>“Yes, that one. So? Tell me, who was it? I won’t judge, you know, even if you say it was your ex-girlfriend’s dentist or something,” he flapped his hand about, “I’m just curious! It’s a nice looking door, you know.”</p>
<p>Junsu grunted in agreement.</p>
<p>“So? Not done by your ex-girlfriend’s dentist? Ok then, what about… your current girlfriend’s dad who has an aspiration for painting?” Minsoo guessed. In Junsu’s opinion, he was having way too much fun with this.</p>
<p>Junsu told him as much. “Plus, it’s not like I’m even interested in girls,” he muttered, looking back at the door.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah? What, you’re too cool for them or something?” he said, grinning at Junsu lazily.</p>
<p>“No, just not interested in them,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “They’re just not my type.”</p>
<p>“Oh? So who is your type, then?”</p>
<p>Junsu shrugged, face noncommittal. “You know, other people.”</p>
<p>“Other people?”</p>
<p>“Boys.”</p>
<p>“Ah, me too!” Minsoo smiled. “Well, actually, I’m bi, so I swing both ways. Hah, swing, like Biderman. Spiderman! Get it?” He laughed and Junsu decided to not voice his confusion in how he had just connected those two topics. “Anyways, Spiderman’s my favorite superhero, who’s yours?”</p>
<p>“Weren’t you just asking me about the door?” Junsu said, raising an eyebrow at him.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, I was, wasn't I,” Minsoo smiled again. “Then tell me, who was it?”</p>
<p>Junsu looked at the door again. “Taehyuk, I think.”</p>
<p>“Taehyuk?” Minsoo’s voice tilted up in interest. “Who’s that?”</p>
<p>“He’s this college kid that works here in the summers. He's in art school or something, I don't know. Nari-noona probably let him paint the door. It was a while ago.”</p>
<p>“Nari-noona?”</p>
<p>“Our friend.”</p>
<p>“Cool, cool,” Minsoo muttered, mind somewhere else. “So are you taken then? Is he your boyfriend? This… Taehyuk kid?”</p>
<p>Junsu turned his head quickly to look at Minsoo’s face. “What’s with all the questions?” he said sharply.</p>
<p>Minsoo held up his hands placatingly. “Oh my god, chill! I was just curious,” he said, pouting a little.</p>
<p>Junsu sighed in annoyance, before letting himself grimace, mouth curling up in distaste. “Then no.”</p>
<p>“No, he’s not my boyfriend, or no I don’t have one?”</p>
<p>“Both.”</p>
<p>“Ah,” Minsoo hummed out, curiosity satisfied. For now.</p>
<p>Junsu went back to humming aimlessly, silence settling in. It was uncomfortable; not because being near Minsoo was uncomfortable, but because Junsu generally didn’t like the quiet.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna turn some music on,” he said, standing up from the counter as he pulled up his most played songs on shuffle. “You got anything you can’t stand? Something you couldn’t listen to even if you were forced to?”</p>
<p>“Uhhh,” Minsoo thought aloud, “not really. Unless you play country, or like, some <em> really </em> heavy metal stuff, I’ll be fine.” He backtracked quickly once he noticed Junsu looking at him. “I mean, no offense if you really like heavy metal or something! I just really don’t like it because of how tuneless it sounds and ok you know what I’m gonna try and shut up now.”</p>
<p>Junsu wanted to laugh at the scared expression that Minsoo made, but held himself back. “No, it’s good. I can deal with that.” </p>
<p>Pressing play, he closed his eyes and hummed along to the sugary notes of Carly Rae Jepsen that floated through the air.</p>
<p>Minsoo’s giggle interrupted him, and he opened his eyes, glaring at him.</p>
<p>“What,” he grouched out. “What is it?”</p>
<p>“Nothing!” Minsoo giggled again, trying and failing to contain his smile, bringing a hand up to try and hide it. “It’s nothing. Absolutely nothing.” He shook his head, shaking the hair out of his face, before looking back up at Junsu, smiling, the sound of his laughs intensifying as he noticed Junsu bopping his head slightly to the music. “Oh my god, you actually like this stuff.”</p>
<p>Junsu scoffed. “What’s that supposed to mean? Of course I like it, I’m the one playing it.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Tall-dark-and-handsome, I didn’t expect for you to have the same music taste as a 15 year old girl.” He laughed freely at Junsu as he rolled his eyes at him. “Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me that your favorite drink from Starbucks <em> isn’t </em> black coffee!”</p>
<p>Junsu shifted uncomfortably, caught out.</p>
<p>Minsoo collapsed in on himself in laughter, trying to catch his breath and failing every time he looked back up at Junsu. “Oh— oh my god,” he got out, “what is it? Don’t tell me it’s one of those, what, pink milk drinks?”</p>
<p>Junsu nearly blanched in disgust. “Of course not!” he refuted.</p>
<p>“Then what is it?” Minsoo fired back.</p>
<p>Junsu huffed before eventually giving in. “…hot chocolate,” he mumbled.</p>
<p>Minsoo’s eyes widened in pleasant happiness. “What was that?”</p>
<p>“I said hot chocolate.”</p>
<p>“Really?” Minsoo didn’t even bother hiding the curiosity in his voice. “Not even a caffeinated drink? Huh.”</p>
<p>Junsu looked back up at Minsoo. “You can get them caffeinated. Just ask the people that work there to make it that way for you.”</p>
<p>Minsoo smiled at Junsu. “That’s cool! Thank you so much for telling me your deepest, darkest secrets,” he finished, waggling his eyebrows. </p>
<p>Junsu scoffed, before the two of them fell back into a silence, this time filled by the upbeat tunes of indie pop.</p>
<p>Three songs later, though, and it seemed like Minsoo couldn’t keep his mouth shut longer. </p>
<p>“Hey, Junsu?” he asked. Noticing that Minsoo didn’t use an honorific this time to annoy him, Junsu looked up at him, analyzing his face, and there it was — a small shine of worry in his eyes.</p>
<p>“Yeah?” he said, coming closer to see what the issue was. “What’s up?”</p>
<p>“Um, it’s not a big deal, but you got me thinking, and, um… I just had a favor that I thought I should ask.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure, ask away,” Junsu gestured in front of him with his hand for him to go ahead.</p>
<p> “Well, I was wondering if… you could call in for me at work to get me an extended leave? Since, you know, I was thinking about this situation and stuff, and the other me probably doesn’t want to go to work for an entire month?” Minsoo winced slightly while voicing all this out.</p>
<p>Junsu thought about this for a moment. It made sense, really, and he didn’t see why not. “Sure,” he said aloud.</p>
<p>“Ok,” Minsoo responded, but the worry hadn’t left his eyes. If anything, it had grown slightly.</p>
<p>Junsu eyed him uneasily. “...um, everything good with you?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I just…” he chewed his lip. “The owner isn’t… well. Most aren’t. But my boss doesn’t take kindly to anyone asking for a leave. Last time Jaewon tried to, he threatened to fire him, and I kinda <em> really </em> need that job, so. Yeah,” he finished lamely.</p>
<p>Junsu looked at him, weighing his options. “Well, then it’s up to you what I do. I can still call him for you, and see what I can do, since apparently I can persuade people pretty easily, or if you’d like, I could… not call him?”</p>
<p>Minsoo shook his head. “You really should call him though. I <em> really </em> wouldn’t like for the other me to be working a job that they didn’t sign up for under <em> that </em> man.”</p>
<p>Junsu nodded. “Understandable, from what you’ve told me. Give me his number, and I’ll call him up for you.”</p>
<p>Squinting his eyes, Minsoo rattled off a string of numbers, before looking back up at Junsu.</p>
<p>“Are you sure you want to do this?” he said, uncertain.</p>
<p>“Minsoo-ssi— hyung. Minsoo-hyung,” he corrected himself, patting himself on the back at the way that Minsoo lit up slightly, “I should be the one asking you that. Are you sure you want <em> me </em> to do this?”</p>
<p>Minsoo swallowed before squaring up his shoulders and nodding determinedly.</p>
<p>“In that case then,” He smirked at Minsoo, tossing over his shoulder, “ I have a vaguely threatening phone call to make. If you’ll excuse me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Staying with Junsu wasn’t that bad. For one, Junsu was actually surprisingly sweet. Sure, he looked intimidating, with his height (an inner voice, sounding a lot like Daehyun, whispered <em> haha short </em> in his brain. <em> shut up </em>, he whispered back), tattoos, and resting bitch face, but he was actually kinda fun to talk to! For two, he got really flustered easily when Minsoo poked fun at him. They had started to settle into a routine of how to handle each other. In fact, it felt like they had been friends for a lot longer than a few days.</p>
<p>The third thing that was surprising (but nice) about Junsu was that he was empathetic, even if he didn’t show it. He was quiet, but he paid attention to the small details, and it made him a good person. He was also ridiculously expressive, if you knew where to look (which was his eyes. not that Minsoo found himself staring into his eyes often, of course not! it was just… an observation).</p>
<p>At present, the man was currently wiping off the counter (it was a really long counter, actually, and on the far end held the outdated cash register. it was apparently a counter of multiple purposes). </p>
<p>A middle aged man had just stopped by requesting his services; his cat had apparently died — for the fourth time. Junsu explained that he had been coming back to the shop every time that it had happened, so that he could re-animate the cat and it could continue to live on with the man. </p>
<p>Minsoo had watched in awe as Junsu laid out a complex array around the worn cat’s collar — a very different looking one compared to what Minsoo had attempted on his apartment floor, but noticeably still with the same basic concepts — before uttering the incantation. Scleras eclipsing his irises, eyes a milky white, he whistled sharply three times in succession at different pitches. Grey mist seemed to seep out of the air, clumping around the collar in the formation of a cat before solidifying after he sprinkled dull green dust onto it. </p>
<p>Then, stepping back and reaching behind the counter, he had produced not one, not two, but <em> three </em> different types of cat treats for the newly re-animated feline. And a cat toy.</p>
<p>So yeah. Kang Junsu was actually not only a big and total softie, but a <em> cat lover </em>. To say that Minsoo was over the moon with this information would have been an understatement.</p>
<p>A whistle to gain his attention brought him back into the present, as Junsu threw the dirty rag into the sink basin behind him. </p>
<p>“So? What’d you think?”<br/>Minsoo tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. “What’d I think about what? Your wiping job? Because I’d say it’s a little,” he swiped a finger over the top of it (unable to actually pick anything up, because he’s a <em> ghost </em>, but you know what that didn’t matter right now), rubbing it between the pads of his fingers and grimacing as if they had stuck together, “Tacky.” </p>
<p>Junsu exhaled a huff of a laugh, the ghost of a smile appearing on his face. “I was talking about the ritual, actually. It’s the first one you’ve ever seen, I wanted to get your opinion on it.”</p>
<p>“Awwww! You’re too sweet!” Minsoo cooed, clasping his hands together. “Such a good little dongsaeng-ie, making sure that his hyung had a good time!”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh, sure. Totally.” Junsu deadpanned.</p>
<p>Minsoo pouted, but he would not be deterred. “Fine! Well, since you’re clearly <em> dying </em> — haha, get it, <em> dying </em> — to know, I thought that it happened to be very interesting. You know, the whole fancy thing,” he waved his hand at his face “that you had going on up here and the mist was a very nice touch. Oh! Also, the green stuff you threw on the cat at the end smelled very nice. Kinda grassy, with a nice minty aftertaste.” He nodded to himself.</p>
<p>“What the fuck,” Junsu asked, his eyebrows furrowed, “you ate my fucking crushed crystalized catnip?”</p>
<p>“I— what?”</p>
<p>“Did you eat it?”</p>
<p>“No!” Minsoo squinted at Junsu in confusion. “You literally said I couldn’t touch anything, how the fuck would I have been able to eat it?!”</p>
<p>Now it was Junsu’s turn to squint at Minsoo. “No? I just told you that nobody would be able to see you or hear you, I didn’t say <em> anything </em> about you not being able to touch stuff.”</p>
<p>“So then can I or can I not?” Minsoo demanded, getting up into Junsu’s space. His eyes widened as he tried to step back, but he was stopped by the sink.</p>
<p>“You can! It just depends on the object!” he said in attempts to placate him. “Living things need more energy, but stuff that's already dead or is an inanimate object should be really easy!”</p>
<p>“Then why couldn’t I touch the countertop just a second ago?!”</p>
<p>Junsu’s face scrunched up, before he sighed and gave Minsoo a pointed stare. “I’m assuming you remember that when you were doing your universe swap, there was a line about how conviction is the important part?”</p>
<p>Minsoo rocked back onto his heels, kissing his teeth as he thought about that night. To be honest, there was a lot of alcohol, and most of the night was a blur interspersed with some very specific memories — losing in Mario Kart, doing another shot, picking up Dongho’s scented candles and thinking <em> he’s gonna kill me for this later </em> — but yeah, he thought he remembered something along those lines. He nodded slowly.</p>
<p>“Well, conviction is really the basis behind everything — magic, necromancy, even normal life. If you didn’t think you’d be able to touch the countertop, then you wouldn’t be — probably why you couldn’t then. But, look. Try touching my apron.”</p>
<p>Minsoo gave him a skeptical look.</p>
<p>Junsu rolled his eyes. “Just try, idiot. And think about succeeding, and not just sticking your hand through my chest, please. It’s not a very pleasant experience to have someone’s arm in your lungs.”</p>
<p>Minsoo took a deep breath, steeling himself before hovering his hand inches away from the dull red apron. Then he furrowed his brow. He could do this. He was <em> not </em> some second rate loser who couldn’t even touch normal objects. </p>
<p>(If Minsung were the dead one here, <em> he’d </em> be able to touch Junsu’s apron — Minsoo needs to be better than him, even if the scenario was a hypothetical.) </p>
<p>(<strike>something about the thought of Minsung dead didn’t sit right in Minsoo’s chest.</strike>)</p>
<p>Minso squeezed his eyes shut. </p>
<p>He placed his hand firmly on the apron.</p>
<p>It stuck.</p>
<p>Minsoo exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he was holding, pleased. He looked up at Junsu, then back down at his hand in awe, and back up, down, up, down, up, holding eye contact with Junsu. He, too, looked vaguely happy and not like he wanted to murder something — a win in Minsoo’s book.</p>
<p>Picking up each individual finger and drumming them back down onto Junsu’s chest, Minsoo’s mouth curled up into a smile.</p>
<p>Junsu exhaled, and his hand sunk downwards slightly with the loss of air keeping it up.</p>
<p>The apron was warm under his palm, and Minsoo could feel it thump slightly with Junsu’s heartbeat. It was calm.</p>
<p>They stood together in silence.</p>
<p>Then Minsoo snapped out of whatever it was that he was doing — when the fuck did he get so close to Junsu? And why is he <em> still </em> there? Had he just groped Junsu’s pec??? Why didn’t he <em> say </em> something?</p>
<p>Just as he was about to step back, Junsu side stepped him — away from the sink, away from Minsoo, away from whatever weird tension moment they had just had. Minsoo’s hand felt cold and lonely. It wanted to be back on Junsu’s warm chest. (shut the fuck up, hand.)</p>
<p>Minsoo turned away, hoping that his still translucent form would hide his blush. He was not successful, but it’s fine. Whatever.</p>
<p>Junsu cleared his throat from behind him.</p>
<p>“Hm?” Minsoo turned to face him, hoping that his face didn’t betray how weirdly flustered he had gotten from putting his <em> hand on his fucking chest </em>. “What’s up?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Junsu started, “I was wondering if you wanted to go somewhere? Like, for a walk or something? Since you’ve been hanging around the shop for two days straight, and you probably want to look at something new besides these shelves-” he gestured around him, before cutting off, “-um, yeah. Anyways. It’s fine if you don’t want to.” He rubbed the back of his neck, averting his eyes from Minsoo’s.</p>
<p>Minsoo hummed, thinking. It was true, Minsoo <em> was </em> in fact getting a little bored with the shop — not that it wasn’t interesting or anything, but he just had this itch under his skin to get moving, to go go <em> go </em> somewhere already why wasn’t he <em> going </em> — and a walk could help him get over whatever had just transpired.</p>
<p>“You know what, sure. Let’s go.”</p>
<p>Junsu looked surprised at this. “Oh — uh, okay. Is there a place you have in mind?”</p>
<p>Minsoo thought for a moment, but nothing was really coming to his head. “Why don’t you just lead me to the nearest coffee shop or something. I could use some caffeine,” he joked, smiling wryly at Junsu. The man nodded, going to the coat rack in the corner and pulling on a long, dark pea coat. He then held the door open for Minsoo, gesturing outside.</p>
<p>“You coming?”</p>
<p>Minsoo nodded, and hurried to catch up.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>The coffee shop that they walked into was small but nice — floor to ceiling windows on the street side, dark red seat cushions, not a lot of people inside but still comfortably full, and three girls behind the counter; one taking a blonde woman’s order, and the other two chatting quietly.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Minsoo exclaimed, recognizing the woman manning the cashier, “That’s Minyoung-ssi! Oh my god! I didn’t know she worked here!” He stepped forward as to talk to her, but Junsu put his arm out in front of him to get him to slow.</p>
<p>Junsu gave him a look. Minsoo looked at him in confusion, before remembering — oh yeah. He couldn’t talk to her, could he. Well, there goes that, then.</p>
<p>Then he heard an exclamation from next to him. “Oh wait,” Junsu let out, “Nari-noona!”</p>
<p>The blonde woman ordering turned around, mouth still open from chatting with the Minyoung. Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw who it was. “Junsu-yah!!! My favorite employee, how are you?” she gushed.</p>
<p>
  <em> Employee? Huh? </em>
</p>
<p>Junsu gave her a small smile as she ruffled his hair affectionately. That’s when Minsoo was able to piece together why she looked so familiar; she was the blonde in the McDonald’s that Minyoung was flirting with the whole time they were in the Underworld! Huh. Small world, apparently.</p>
<p>Anyways, employee? That’s a first. Minsoo didn’t know a lot about Junsu quite yet, but when he asked him earlier about the door, Junsu had mentioned her offhandedly, saying that she was his and Taehyuk’s mutual friend — but how exactly <em> did </em> Nari know Junsu? Minsoo was getting mixed signals.</p>
<p>“I’m good, noona. How are you?”</p>
<p>“Good, good, you know. It’s nice having not been called into work for a while now!” She laughed, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. “Thanks to you, always holding down the fort.” She nudged him with her elbow, before leaning back onto the counter. “Anyways, it’s given me time to make some new friends! Junsu-yah, this is Minyoungie!” She introduced, gesturing to Minyoung standing behind the counter, a bland customer service smile on her face. “She’s my really good friend, aren’t you?” She turned to Minyoung, and she blushed slightly, smile becoming a little more genuine.</p>
<p>Junsu inclined his head to greet her, before turning back to Nari. “Noona, it’s been good seeing you. However…” He trailed off, tilting his head towards Minsoo slightly, and Nari’s eyes followed before widening when she saw him standing there. She blinked at him a few times, and her grin sharpened.</p>
<p>“Well! Don’t let me keep you from ordering, I’m only here to talk with Minyoungie,” She said, scooting sideways and gesturing for Minyoung to follow, which she did after waving a small, brown haired girl to the counter in her place. “We’ll talk some other time, yeah?” She glanced her eyes at Minsoo one more time, before winking at him and turning back to Minyoung.</p>
<p>Minsoo gulped. Ok, so she could definitely see him then. That was only slightly terrifying, after having stood here under the impression that he was invisible to everyone but Junsu.</p>
<p>He quietly ordered two caffeinated hot chocolates (<em> aww </em>), nodding and handing over the correct amount of change before going to pick it up. He looked at Minsoo, then tilted his head towards the tables, indicating for Minsoo to go sit down at one. “I’ll be there in a second,” he murmured.</p>
<p>Minsoo shivered slightly as he left, because <em> God </em> , this man’s <em> voice </em> , but nope, he had to keep himself together. Junsu was counting on him to go pick a table! He absolutely <em> had </em> to grab them the best one.</p>
<p>Picking a table in the corner so as to not draw too much attention to himself and Junsu when he inevitably started to talk to what looked like thin air, Minsoo sat down and waited for Junsu to arrive with the drinks. He hummed as he idly looked around the cafe. </p>
<p>God, it felt like forever since Minsoo had last been to a coffee shop, especially with someone else and not just grabbing it to go. Ordering a drink, sitting at a table, feeling the ambience of the cafe and enjoying the company of the person in front of you… wow. This was really nice, Minsoo hadn’t been on a date in what felt like forever.</p>
<p>
  <em> Wait, what? </em>
</p>
<p>His eyes widened and his face heated up rapidly. <em> Abort abort abort what the hell are you thinking a date with the guy who’s supposed to be bringing you back to life seriously Minsoo? Are you serious right now? </em> Yes <em> we know he’s hot and cute and a cat lover and checks all your boxes but are you </em> serious <em> right now— </em></p>
<p>Junsu sat down, and set a small hot chocolate on the table in front of Minsoo, and one in front of himself.</p>
<p>Minsoo cleared his throat, hoping that his face wouldn’t give anything away, and raised an eyebrow at Junsu.</p>
<p>“Drink it,” he clarified.</p>
<p>Minsoo looked at it and then back at Junsu.</p>
<p>He rolled his eyes. “Drink it,” he repeated, “Or it’ll go cold.” Then after taking a sip, “You <em> can </em> drink it, you know. The same way as you could touch my apron.”</p>
<p>Sighing, Minsoo looked down at the hot chocolate. Conviction, right? He could definitely do conviction. Thinking his most convictious thoughts (<em> ooh, you </em> really <em> want to be picked up by me </em> ), Minsoo squinted at the drink before picking it up ( <em> score! </em> ). Junsu was right, he <em> could </em> do this! Taking small sips so as to not burn his tongue, he looked outside of the window for a few seconds before setting it down again.</p>
<p>“So, who was that? Your… boss?” Minsoo tilted his head in Nari’s direction.</p>
<p>Junsu nodded a few times, waiting until after swallowing the drink before picking up the conversation. “Yeah, that’s Nari-noona. I mentioned her earlier? She’s my boss and, unlike me, is a medium. She was the one to hire me after finding out that I could also talk to spirits.”</p>
<p>Minsoo looked at her, then back at him. “And what are you then, if not a medium?”</p>
<p>“A necromancer.”</p>
<p>Minsoo took a sip, then instantly wished that he hadn’t. “Wait— hold up.” He raised his hand. “You’re a <em> what </em>?”</p>
<p>“A necromancer,” Junsu replied coolly.</p>
<p>“Isn’t that, like, a person with… like,” he lowered his voice, as if what he was about to ask was taboo, before continuing, “a dead person kink?”</p>
<p>Junsu choked on his hot chocolate, eyes widening as he coughed slightly. “<em> No </em> ,” he forced out, looking pained to have even had the thought. “I am <em> not </em> that. That is not— no. I’m not.”</p>
<p>Minsoo, who had previously been trying to stifle his smile, broke out into giggles.</p>
<p>“I’m <em> not </em>,” Junsu repeated, as Minsoo continued to laugh. After finally calming down, Minsoo took another sip of his hot chocolate before asking.</p>
<p>“So, if you’re not,” he paused, waggling his eyebrows at Junsu, “<em> that </em>,” he flushed again, “then what are you? What is a necromancer?”</p>
<p>“It’s seriously not much different then a medium, Minsoo-hyung.” Junsu averted eye contact with Minsoo to keep him from laughing again. “All I do is talk with spirits, and then also raise them and put them back into living vessels from time to time, like you saw me do earlier today.”</p>
<p>Minsoo <em> ah </em>ed in wonder. “So then, would you say you’re more or less powerful than Nari-ssi?”, he questioned aloud.</p>
<p>Junsu fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know, probably less? Even though I have more potential than she does because of my specialty, she has a better understanding of how to use her powers.”</p>
<p>“Please,” Minsoo smiled in disbelief, “I’m sure you’re plenty good!”</p>
<p>Junsu looked out the window, ears heating up. “Not really, though.”</p>
<p>“No, seriously!” Minsoo leaned forward, looking at Junsu earnestly. “If she trusts you enough to handle to store alone, then I’m sure you’re just as powerful as she is.” Satisfied with himself, he leaned back down against the seat back.</p>
<p>Junsu blushed harder, the red creeping from his ears down his neck, under his tattoos. Minsoo had to physically restrain himself from reaching over the counter and squishing his face.</p>
<p>Oh no, why did he find him getting flustered so cute? He wanted to coo at him so badly. How come he got to be so— so perfect? Hot and cute at the same time? This wasn’t fucking fair!</p>
<p>Feeling his own ears heat up, he quickly picked up his hot chocolate and downed a good half of the cup. Ok, so <em> maybe </em> Minsoo had a bit of a thing for Junsu. But it’s not like it would go anywhere, since a) he’s a fucking ghost and b) Junsu definitely did not feel the same for him. But it’s fine! It’s all fine. Minsoo could deal with this. </p>
<p>He just needed to keep his feelings out of here for the next two weeks, and focus on something else — like how there were cats that came to visit Junsu’s place everyday, and how, without fail, Junsu always gave them some treats, or how nice his tattoos looked under the shop lights, or how sweet and kind he was, or how cute he was when he got flustered, or how hot he was when he got irritated, or <em> oh my god this is absolutely Not Fine. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>—●— </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was the second week of Minsoo being around him, and Junsu was happy to say that he’d gotten the hang of balancing things now. Whenever a customer would come in, Minsoo would sit back in Junsu’s chair as he stood up to go help them. Sometimes, the customer could also see Minsoo, and in that case they usually struck up small talk of some sort while Junsu did his thing.</p>
<p>Other times, like with the high school student that came in to send a message to their grandmother, Minsoo would walk around carrying one of the skull speakers, scaring them into thinking that the shop was haunted by the ‘floating skull speaker’. Junsu had just sighed and explained that they were actually haunted by “A ghost who <em> thought </em> he was funny”, to which Minsoo stuck out his tongue at Junsu for, before putting back the speaker.</p>
<p>(After the customer had left, Junsu had gotten up and repeatedly poked Minsoo in the arm, which prompted Minsoo to screech and Junsu had to explain that “<em> yes, he could touch ghosts, what did you take him for, an ameteur? </em>”. Minsoo thought that that was unfair to ghosts and pouted before kicking Junsu in the (jean covered) shin.)</p>
<p>Either way, Junsu got his job done (eventually), and Minsoo got to enjoy himself.</p>
<p>“Wait, so,” Minsoo asked, trailing his hand over the bottles of various shades of blue lining a shelf, “your entire family’s made up of necromancers?”</p>
<p>“I mean,” Junsu looked up from his task of re-organizing various types of wood ash, thinking. “Technically, yes? We all have the ability to become necromancers, at least. You actually need to practice it if you want to go into necromancy full time, otherwise you just have an affinity to death magic.”</p>
<p>“Huh,” Minsoo let out before turning down the next aisle, this one holding differently colored rocks. “Is that why Dongho could sorta-kinda-not-really see me that first day, then?”</p>
<p>Junsu hummed. “Probably.”</p>
<p>“Cool.” </p>
<p>The silence settled in between them, soft synth sounds of Japanese city pop filling the air. When Junsu had turned it on, Minsoo had snorted, but refrained from commenting when Junsu raised an eyebrow at him.</p>
<p>“Hey, Junsu-yah?”</p>
<p>“Hm?”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t I know Dongho was your brother?”</p>
<p>The question hits softly, but with impact. Junsu paused his hand mid place, jar of willow ash dangling from his fingers. “I…”</p>
<p>“'Cuz it’s like,” Minsoo went on, “I’ve been friends with him for a while, y’know? But I never knew he had a brother.”</p>
<p>Junsu thought about the question, before carefully articulating his answer. “Well…” he began slowly, “We aren’t really that… close? I don’t think?”</p>
<p>Minsoo came up next to him, leaning over the counter. “You think or you know?”</p>
<p>“I know,” Junsu responded firmly. “With our family, we just… weren’t like that. There’s not even a big age difference between us, but after our parents found out that I wanted to learn necromancy properly, they didn’t really bother with finding out what Dongho wanted to know. He…” he trailed off, looking out the dusty window towards the street. “He kind of just… did what he wanted to, and I did what I wanted to. Nothing much to it.”</p>
<p>“And that’s why the two of you don’t mention each other?”</p>
<p>“Well, no,” Junsu said, frowning slightly. “I think we’re trying to make an effort to talk to each other now, but we just don’t really… think about the fact that we’re brothers, if that makes sense.”</p>
<p>Minsoo squinted at Junsu, like he was trying to figure something out about him. Junsu looked at him and held still. Whatever Minsoo saw, he must have been ok with, because a moment later he nodded at Junsu and went back to the aisle he had just left. </p>
<p>Before he got there though, he was interrupted by the door slamming open, bell jingling, bringing a gust of cool air with it as a man staggered in, breathing heavily. </p>
<p>“Hi, welcome to Hex You, what can I do for you today?” Junsu inquired, sitting up a little. The man who had just entered straightened up, and that was when Junsu noticed his face; eyes rimmed red and nose flushed. His features looked… familiar, but Junsu didn’t think he’d ever seen this man before.</p>
<p>Minsoo, however — as soon as the man had looked up, his body language immediately changed, his posture stiffened, jaw clenched and eyes on the floor as he drew in a sharp breath.</p>
<p>“I…” Junsu trailed off, unsure of how to go about this. “Um,” he looked back at the man, who he was beginning to realize looked an awful lot like his ghostly friend. “Can I help you?”</p>
<p>“I don’t…” the man hesitated for a moment, taking in the atmosphere of the shop, before responding, “yes? Maybe? I think you can,” he decided, eyes catching on the sign behind him (reading “<em> Free spirit consultations today! </em>” in Nari’s handwriting). “Are you Junsu-ssi?”</p>
<p>Junsu glanced between Minsoo and this Minsoo-like man, bewilderment swirling around in his head. “I... yes? Why, what’s the issue?” he said, confused.</p>
<p>“I, uh,” the man licked his lips, before the words began to tumble from his mouth. “I— you know my brother, I think? Is he— I heard from one of my friends who heard from Dongho-ssi that Minsoo was apparently dead and I freaked out and then, I, I called Dongho-ssi because Minsoo wasn’t picking up his phone and then by the time I was told anything Dongho-ssi said that my brother was <em> dead </em>,” his voice cracked unforgivingly, but the words just kept coming faster now, “and now I’m here because apparently you know something about Minsoo and I, I just need to know he’s not dead please I don’t, I don’t know what I— I can’t—”</p>
<p>“Okay, wait, pause, breath for a minute,” Junsu said alarmed, throwing a hand out in front of himself to stop the other. “Who are you again?”</p>
<p>Minsoo, sounding the most put out that Junsu had yet heard him, whispered faintly. “He… that’s my brother.”</p>
<p>The man in front of him looked like he was about to have a breakdown, but he stopped and took some rattly breaths before licking at his lips and answering. “I… I’m Lee Minsung? Minsoo’s— his older brother,” he finished, eyes full of pain.</p>
<p>Junsu felt his eyes widen, against his will, glancing quickly at Minsoo, who still wasn’t looking up.</p>
<p>“C-can you please help me now?” The man across the counter begged desperately. “I can’t— he couldn’t have died, please, <em> please </em> tell me he’s not dead, Junsu-ssi <em> please— </em>”</p>
<p>“He, uh—” Junsu looked at Minsoo again, sure that the panic in his eyes must be evident. “He’s… not dead, exactly.”</p>
<p>Minsung looked at him, completely still for one second, before collapsing forwards onto his knees and the counter, wailing as sobs wracked his body. “Oh— oh my god, th-thank goodness,” he hiccupped, head buried in his arms. “I wasn’t— I couldn’t tell him— oh my god, thank goodness, I don’t know what I would’ve done if h-he— I never told him I’m sorry, oh my god what if he had died hating me? I don’t even know what I would have done, I’m a complete failure of a brother—” he babbled, words dissolving into tears.</p>
<p>Minsoo flinched.</p>
<p>“Minsung-ssi—” Junsu tried to interject, but Minsung kept crying over him. Junsu couldn’t even try to decipher the words that were coming out of his mouth at that point — apologies mixed with self deprecation, interrupted with sobs and Minsoo’s name sporadically coming out of his mouth.</p>
<p>Junsu stood there awkwardly, before going to grab a tissue box from the back and bringing it with him. Against his better judgement, he also grabbed Nari’s spirit box from the shelf, in case this reached a point where Minsoo and Minsung would want to talk.</p>
<p>When he got back, Minsoo still hadn’t moved, but Minsung’s sobs had calmed down to the point where he was just breathing, tears still streaming down his cheeks, but silently.</p>
<p>Gently placing the tissues down next to him, Junsu muttered a hasty “<em> Excuse me for one moment </em>” before steering Minsoo away into the back of the shop.</p>
<p>“Minsoo-hyung,” he said. “Minsoo-hyung, please look at me.”</p>
<p>Gradually, Minsoo lifted his head, but his eyes were cloudy, mind lost in emotions and thoughts.</p>
<p>“Minsoo-hyung,” he repeated, whispering as he held onto both of Minsoo’s hands, scared he’d float away if he didn’t, “what would you like me to do?”</p>
<p>Minsoo didn’t respond or show any indication of hearing him.</p>
<p>“Minsoo-hyung?”</p>
<p>“Hm?” He said, blinking a little and looking around at the back of the shop in confusion.</p>
<p>“What do you want me to do? I’ll back whatever you choose,” he said, searching the other’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Why…” Minsoo trailed off, unsure. “Why are you asking me?”</p>
<p>Junsu blinked at him, not understanding. “What do you mean? It’s your brother here, crying on the counter. Why wouldn’t I ask you?”</p>
<p>Minsoo blinked, unsurity clouding on his face. “But…” he said, slowly, “it’s <em> your </em> shop? Shouldn’t you choose what to do?”</p>
<p>Junsu shook his head, staring sadly at Minsoo as he chose his words carefully. “Hyung, it’s <em> your </em> brother. I don’t know what your relationship with each other is like, or if you even want to get into all of <em> that </em> ,” he waved his hand about, “right now. I’m asking <em> you </em> because I don’t want you to end up in a situation that you don’t want to be in.”</p>
<p>Minsoo hesitated. “But… but what if what I want makes <em> him </em> uncomfortable?”</p>
<p>“Well, he’ll just have to deal, because <em> you're </em> my friend and he isn’t,” he huffed out, happy when Minsoo cracked a smile.</p>
<p>They stood there together, staring at each other as Minsoo tried to come up with his decision, before he took a deep breath and let his shoulder and head drop down, closing his eyes.</p>
<p>Junsu rubbed at his hand softly with his thumb as he waited. “Take as long as you want,” he said softly. </p>
<p>Minsoo opened his eyes and blinked rapidly a few times before looking back up at Junsu. “I…” he said, hesitating and closing his eyes again, nodding once. “I want to hear him out.”</p>
<p>Junsu nodded his head solemnly at that, before gesturing for him to walk with him back towards Minsung, keeping a hand on his back to comfort him.</p>
<p>“Minsung-ssi,” he said, and Minsung looked up from where he stood, tears having finally slowed, “Minsoo-ssi has agreed to talk to you and hear you out.”</p>
<p>“What?” Minsung asked, voice faint.</p>
<p>“For you two to talk, though, I must specify some things.” He looked sternly at Minsung until he nodded his head at him to show that he was listening. “First, you must know that while he is not dead, through some <em> abnormal circumstances </em> ,” he said lightly, “he is a ghost. <em> However </em>,” he said, cutting off whatever Minsung was about to say as he opened his mouth, “he will be returning back to his usual, very much alive, form soon.”</p>
<p>Minsung closed his mouth.</p>
<p>“Anyways,” he continued, taking the spirit box out of his apron pouch and placing it on the counter in between where Minsoo and Minsung stood, “this is a spirit box. You may have seen them before. When I flick this switch,” he lightly tapped near it, “the box will turn on and act as the translation device between the spirit talking and you. While the quality of it may be… abysmal,” he winced, “it does the job.”</p>
<p>He straightened up and looked both Minsoo and Minsung in the eye. “I will be leaving the two of you in the front of the shop while you talk. Please come get me once you’re done.” He smiled slightly at Minsoo, who gave a weak smile in response, before he turned away and left them two alone. </p>
<p>Looking once more at the two brothers, Junsu sighed to himself. They would be fine. If there was one thing that Minsoo was, it was strong. Junsu knew that he’d be okay.</p>
<p>They could do this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Minsoo felt emotionally drained. Even after hearing Minsung out and agreeing to try and work things out in the future, he still didn’t know how to feel about… well, <em> all </em> of this. Yes, he would love to be on better terms with him. Minsung was fine with that too, in fact it seemed like he wanted that more than Minsoo did. </p>
<p>Having even talked out the little that they had had made Minsoo feel like he was lighter, like his shoulders weren’t carrying as much weight as they had been previously. But at the same time, Minsoo had spent <em> years </em> hating Minsung. He wasn’t sure if he could stop hating him.</p>
<p>Minsung had said that was fine too, when he brought it up quietly. </p>
<p>After excusing himself, Minsoo walked into the back of the store to find Junsu quietly sitting in the corner, eyes closed. </p>
<p>“We… we’re done now,” he said to him quietly, hoping that Junsu couldn’t hear the emotion thick in his voice. Judging from the way that Junsu looked at him, eyes full of worry, he didn’t think it was very successful. But all Junsu did was give him a small, quiet smile and make his way back over to Minsung.</p>
<p>He turned off the spirit box, and Minsung stood up, eyes rimmed red. Junsu talked to him in a low voice, most probably about him, and Minsung nodded a few times. </p>
<p>Junsu looked back at Minsoo for a second. “Is there something else you’d like to say to him before he leaves?”</p>
<p>Minsoo thought about it, then slowly shook his head, eyes still turned down at the floor. He didn’t want to say anything else to Minsung; what was there left to say except “<em> I hope when I see you next, I don’t hate you as much as I do now </em> ”? Besides “ <em> I hope that we can become better with each other </em>”?</p>
<p>But at the same time, he felt like he owed it to say something, <em> anything </em>, to make up for what had to be one of the worst things Minsung had ever experienced. </p>
<p>(<strike><em> if it hurt </em> him <em> to think about Minsung dead, how could </em> Minsung </strike><em><strike> possibly still hold himself together?</strike> </em>)</p>
<p>Minsoo told himself that’s why he did what he did next.</p>
<p>Minsung had smiled sadly at the ground and made his way to leave after Junsu had shook his head at him, already at the entryway into the shop.</p>
<p>“Wait,” he said quickly, eyes darting between Junsu and Minsung before he could stop himself. Junsu quietly repeated him, and Minsung stilled at the door, not turning around.</p>
<p>“I-I…” Minsoo stuttered, shivering slightly as the cold from the slightly open door seeped into the shop.</p>
<p>Minsung turned around to face Junsu, eyes trained on the ground. Minsoo inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself so that he could get out the next words.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Minsung inhaled sharply.</p>
<p>Minsoo felt the rest of his words tumble out, as Junsu continued to repeat them for Minsung. “I’m sorry that I made everything between us go to shit. I’m sorry that I kept messing things up, even when I could have been the better person and fixed them. And…” he trailed off, unsure of how to say this. “I’m sorry for making you worry about me, for making you think that I was dead. I’m sorry for it all.”</p>
<p>Minsung sniffled again, eyes curving downwards as if he were about to begin to cry again. But when he looked up, he was smiling softly.</p>
<p>“Minsoo,” he said, voice cracking halfway through. “Please… please don’t apologize to me. Yes, you did things wrong, but I—” he cut off, shuddering through an inhale. “I did a lot of things wrong, too. More things. I was your older brother; I was supposed to be the stronger one of the two of us. I wasn’t supposed to make things infinitely worse and make you shut me out and hate me, I was supposed to be the one who tried to <em> fix </em> the things between us. But I <em> didn’t </em>— I didn’t,” he repeated a little quieter.</p>
<p>He sniffed, eyes dancing around the shop as he fumbled with his words. “I just, I couldn’t admit to myself that I might be wrong. I couldn’t— I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t reach out. I didn’t. And now, I’m here and you’re dead and it's been so, <em> so </em> long since either of us have actually tried to listen to each other and—”</p>
<p>He stopped himself again, taking a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is. You shouldn’t have to forgive me. I hurt you too, and none of it was acceptable. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. So for that… I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry.”</p>
<p>Minsoo felt his eyes sting, but before he could say anything, Minsung continued. “And I know this isn't a good apology; and I don’t expect you to forgive me. Not now, and probably not anytime soon. But just know that I’ll worry about you anyways, even if you’re not hurt, even if you hate me, even if we’re not talking.”</p>
<p>Now <em> Minsoo </em> was the one sniffling. The emotional onslaught was almost too much, but Minsoo knew that this was coming sooner or later, and that he had to shoulder his way through it. The two of them had been putting this much needed conversation off for a long time — <em> too </em> long of a time. He rubbed at his eyes stubbornly. He would <em> not </em> cry here, he would <em> not he would not he would not </em>—</p>
<p>“Do you know why?” Now Minsung’s smile grew, an almost serene look on his face if not for the obvious giveaways that he had just been crying.</p>
<p>Minsoo barely dared to breathe.</p>
<p>“It’s because you’re my brother, Soo-yah.” Minsung closed his eyes, silent tears cascading down his face. “And you always, <em> always </em> will be.”</p>
<p>Minsoo felt like he was going numb, the sounds around him rushing out of his ears and replaced by nothingness, as if there was cotton in his ears, hot tears slipping out over his cheeks. In front of him, playing out like a movie, he watched as Minsung quietly nodded goodbye at Junsu, giving him a sad but grateful smile, before turning and exiting the shop.</p>
<p>The silence that fell was deafening. Minsoo hated it. And he hated the tears that were falling. He just — he just wished it would all <em> stop </em>. </p>
<p>He sniffled a few times more, but couldn’t seem to get the tears to halt. </p>
<p>Looking at Junsu, who watched him with sad, concerned eyes, he nodded his head a few times, trying to conjure up a smile. It didn’t work.</p>
<p>“I—” His voice cracked, and he ducked his head again to wipe off some more tears. Junsu walked over next to him, before hugging him gently.</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh. </em>
</p>
<p>“Is this ok?” His voice was barely audible, but Minsoo paid attention to Junsu at all times — he heard it anyway. He nodded, not trusting his voice. </p>
<p>Junsu rubbed small circles into Minsoo’s back, holding him carefully in his arms, and Minsoo was quickly enveloped by warmth.</p>
<p>He hiccuped a little, tears still streaming down his face, tightening his arms around Junsu’s back. Why did Junsu have to see him like this? Minsoo was supposed to be the cool, funny hyung, not the elder that broke down at seeing his <em> fucking brother </em> for the first time in years. That’s a sign of weakness — and he couldn’t— he <em> couldn’t </em> be weak. God, why was all of this so <em> hard </em>?</p>
<p>Trembling in Junsu’s arms, he broke down even more. Junsu shushed him gently, stroking the back of Minsoo’s head. </p>
<p>He cried and cried and cried, cried for himself, cried for being a disappointment, cried for being a bad brother. But even then, Junsu stayed around him and comforted him.</p>
<p>Tears slowly coming to a stop, Minsoo let himself stay in Junsu’s hug for a few more moments longer. It was so warm, so kind, so gentle… it felt safe. Minsoo hadn’t felt safe like this for a long time.</p>
<p><em> Is this what the cats feel like when he picks them up? </em> Minsoo thought, mind still a haze of emotion. <em> It’s so nice…  </em></p>
<p>Steeling himself to face Junsu head on, he took a breath before gently pushing at Junsu’s chest to make him move back a little. He did so without questions, for which Minsoo was grateful.</p>
<p>(He immediately felt colder without Junsu’s arms around him. He was <em> right there </em>, but that was still too far — the safe feeling was gone too soon.)</p>
<p>Minsoo rubbed at his eyes for a few seconds. “Sorry for... crying on you,” he offered, lifting a hand and letting it drop back next to his side. </p>
<p>“It’s fine,” Junsu said back softly. </p>
<p>Minsoo sniffed once more, giving out a weak laugh. “Sorry, this is why I don’t like emotions. Then I get like,” he looked down at himself, a watery self-deprecating smile on his face, “like this. That’s why I’m allergic to them. God, they make me useless.”</p>
<p>Junsu looked at him with an indecipherable expression, before grabbing one of Minsoo’s hands, a sad smile on his face. “Minsoo. It’s fine, whether you want to feel emotions or not. Just—” he seemed to choke on his words for a second, before continuing. “Just know that you don’t need to hold them back around me, okay? You… you don’t need to be strong all of the time. You can let your walls down sometimes. It’s fine if you don’t want to feel them, just. Just know that I’ll be here. Listening. Yeah,” he finished off lamely, awkward with trying to help. “You don’t… have to face everything alone all the time.” He punctuated his statement by gently squeezing Minsoo’s hand.</p>
<p>Minsoo looked at him, and he felt like he was going to collapse from the sheer weight of how good of a person Junsu was. How was he so good? At all of this? How could he just ask him tell him how he felt, to talk to him about his emotions, things that Minsoo had tried to shut inside of himself for years?</p>
<p>He barely dared to speak above a whisper. “But,” he licked his lips, eyes searching Junsu’s, “how? It’s so hard, Junsu. I don’t...” He looked down sadly. “I don’t know how to do it.”</p>
<p>Junsu smiled at him, eyes becoming glassy. “Minsoo-hyung.” He pulled Minsoo’s arms up to his chest. “It can get better. We just need to practice.”</p>
<p>And <em> oh, </em>if Minsoo wasn’t bro-crushing on Junsu yet, he surely was now. This kid was too good for him. </p>
<p>“Aish, when did you become so smart, Su-yah? And I thought you were younger than me,” he tried to joke, weakly lifting a hand and hitting Junsu’s chest.</p>
<p>Junsu exhaled softly at the nickname, soft mirth dancing in his eyes. “I’ve always been this smart. Maybe you haven’t been paying enough attention to me, <em> Soo-hyung </em>.”</p>
<p>(<em> not paying enough attention to you? impossible; I notice you too much. </em>)</p>
<p>Minsoo smiled, eyes scrunching up at the pointed use of the nickname, gratitude flooding his chest. If Junsu had noticed Minsoo trying to switch topics, he didn’t say anything, and for that he was thankful. </p>
<p>Maybe things could work between Minsung and him, and maybe not; but for however their relationship went, it was nice to know that Minsoo at least had people like Junsu.</p>
<p>Maybe everything would still be alright.</p>
<p>(“Sorry again,” Minsoo later said, quietly.</p>
<p>“It’s fine.”</p>
<p>“...thank you.”</p>
<p>Junsu smiled softly at him. “It’s all fine, Minsoo.”</p>
<p>Yeah. Maybe everything <em> would </em> be alright.)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—●—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Minsoo was getting tired of being cooped up in the same few places, Junsu could tell.</p>
<p>Well, unfortunately for Minsoo, the shop didn’t run itself and Junsu had a job to do. Nari wasn’t due to start coming in for a few more days, and unless she somehow decided that she wanted to pick up a random shift before she was absolutely required to, Minsoo was out of luck.</p>
<p>Minsoo looked at Junsu with a shit-eating grin on his face. Junsu was immediately apprehensive.</p>
<p>“What?” he asked, suspicious already. “What is it?”</p>
<p>“Oh, not much,” Minsoo responded, smirking.</p>
<p>Junsu raised an eyebrow at him.</p>
<p>“Ok, fine,” Minsoo said, skipping over to Junsu, before leaning in like he was about to share a secret. “I…”</p>
<p>“…yes?”</p>
<p>“…want to go see the horror movie that was just released with you,” he finished, eyes twinkling mischievously.</p>
<p>Junsu looked at Minsoo for a second. Minsoo looked back, waggling his eyebrows. </p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“What?” Minsoo pouted, standing back upright. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m not going with you.”</p>
<p>“Aw,” Minsoo said, grinning, “Is <em> someone </em> here a scaredy cat?” he said, voice lilting.</p>
<p>“No,” Junsu said flatly, “I’m <em> not </em> scared. In fact, I love horror movies. I’m just working right now, in case you couldn’t tell.”</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Minsoo, waving it away, “I already took care of it.”</p>
<p>Junsu blinked at Minsoo, trying to understand exactly what that meant. “Minsoo,” he said, tone scolding, “what did you do?”</p>
<p>“Oh, nothing much, Su-yah,” he said, grin sharpening, “you’ll find out soon enough!”</p>
<p>Junsu didn’t like the sound of that, but went back to work.</p>
<p>Not even a few minutes later, Nari came bustling in through the door, pushing a couple of dollars into Junsu’s hand before shoving them both out of the shop.</p>
<p>“Have fun, the two of you!” she said, winking at Junsu before slamming the door in his face.</p>
<p>“Yeah, c’mon, Su-yah! Let’s go have some fun!” Minsoo grinned, grabbing Junsu’s hand as he dragged him to the nearby movie theater. Junsu didn’t even try to hesitate, still getting over his shock at the sudden change in scenery.</p>
<p>
  <em> How did he manage to convince Nari to come in on an off day? What even… </em>
</p>
<p>Reaching the movie theater, they got in line, slowly making their way to the ticket booth before purchasing one ticket from the long auburn haired man behind the window with a prominent nose (Minsoo refused to give into capitalistic tendencies now that he didn’t have to, and honestly, Junsu wished he could have that attitude. Unfortunately for him though, he wasn’t a ghost).</p>
<p>Waiting for a soda and medium popcorn (with butter, of course, because he wasn’t a monster), Junsu watched the trailer of the movie they were about to see on the small television screens set up around the cinema.</p>
<p>“Are you sure you can handle horror movies?” he said distractedly, trying to keep up with the fast cuts on screen.</p>
<p>“Sure I am, Junsu-yah!” Minsoo replied, puffing out his chest slightly. “I’m the best at watching horror movies out of my entire friend group, I’m sure I’ll be fine!”</p>
<p>“Are you sure though?” Junsu hesitated, casting his eyes over at Minsoo. “This movie looks pretty scary, even for me.”</p>
<p>“Su-yah, it’ll be fine! Trust me,” he said, eyes scrunching up as he looked at Junsu with a smile on his face. “It’ll all be fine.”</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>It was not fine.</p>
<p>The movie that they had picked really <em> was </em> scary, with jumpscares galore in some <em> really </em> good places that even almost made <em> Junsu </em> flinch (he didn’t, though), as well as some really nice plot helped by the acting, making for a good psychological horror story. All in all, a really well done movie, in Junsu’s opinion.</p>
<p>Minsoo might have agreed, had he not been screaming his lungs out in Junsu’s ear as he squeezed his arm to death, eyes shut as tightly as they could be. Really, Minsoo was <em> so </em> lucky that he was a ghost right now, or they would have been thrown out of here ages ago with all of the racket he was making.</p>
<p>In all honesty, it was kind of hilarious, but Junsu was trying to watch the movie.</p>
<p>That was, until Junsu looked down at Minsoo, who was alternating between burying his head into Junsu’s arm and screaming and watching the screen captivated.</p>
<p>At the moment, he was doing the latter, eyes wide as the main character ran down the quiet street, face bathed in blue grey light.</p>
<p>Junsu watched the way that the light bounced off of his face, the delicate slope of his nose, his long eyelashes…</p>
<p><em>He’s really handsome </em> , Junsu suddenly thought. And then frowned slightly, trying to think of why he had just thought that, before shaking his head a little. It was fine to admit truths to himself; Minsoo <em> was </em> really good looking, after all. </p>
<p>As he turned his head back towards the movie, he felt his ears heat up, but before he could even think what <em> that </em> was about, something happened on screen that Junsu missed but Minsoo certainly didn't, based off of the scream he let out.</p>
<p>Junsu let a smile overtake his face. “I thought you could handle horror movies,” he whispered down at Minsoo, careful as to not disturb the other movie goers.</p>
<p>“I swear I'm not usually this jumpy, <em> god </em>,” he mumbled back, not even bothering to lower his volume.</p>
<p>Junsu chuckled lightly before turning back to the screen. “You sure about that? Because this movie, as scary as it is, isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen. It’s more like a piece of art than a horror film, really.”</p>
<p>“Oh, shut <em> up </em>,” he whined back at him. “It’s still terrifying, and you know it.”</p>
<p>“Uh-huh,” he said absentmindedly, still watching the movie, making Minsoo pout.</p>
<p>On screen, the main character ran towards their house in the dark, frantically checking around them for the killer, before hiding in their basement. Probably the worst decision a character in a horror movie could make, but hey, Junsu wasn’t going to complain. Plus, it made sense for her character to do it, as stupid as that sounded.</p>
<p>Next to him, Minsoo whimpered as the camera angle switched to behind a metal shelf, looking like someone was already in the basement, watching her.</p>
<p>Junsu watched the screen, but Minsoo kept tugging on his arm, trying to get him to hunch down a little so that he could tuck his head into the curve of his neck. Rolling his eyes, Junsu obliged. </p>
<p>Minsoo’s breath against Junsu’s bare neck made him shiver. </p>
<p>“See, it <em> is </em> scary!” Minsoo whined out next to his ear. “Even <em> you’re </em> shaking!”</p>
<p><em> Not really </em>, Junsu thought, trying to hold still as Minsoo wormed his way closer to Junsu, as if he could protect him from what was happening on stage. His ears flushed red again, but either Minsoo didn’t see it in the dark or he didn’t comment on it.</p>
<p>Junsu wasn’t sure which option he preferred.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Junsu cackled some more as they made their way out of the theater, ignoring the looks that the other movie goers were giving him.</p>
<p>Minsoo kept whining at him, saying that it <em> wasn’t his fault that the murderer was fucking scary as hell, ok? Now shut the fuck up already </em>, hitting him on the arm as they walked back into the disorienting sunlight outside.</p>
<p>“Minsoo, look,” he said, trying to stop his snickers, “don’t take this the wrong way, but I dont think I’m ever going to a horror movie with you ever again. In fact, I don’t even think <em> I’ll </em> be let in there anytime soon.</p>
<p>"Why though,” Minsoo complained, hanging off of Junsu’s arm as they walked back to Hex You. “I didn't even scream that much!”</p>
<p>“Lies,” scoffed Junsu.</p>
<p>“Ok, but like, nobody could even hear me! Plus, the only reason that <em> you’d </em> get kicked out is because you started laughing at the end,” he said, triumphant at having found something that Junsu had done wrong.</p>
<p>“Hey, you screaming so loudly was funny!”</p>
<p>“Junsu, the lady got <em> chainsawed to death! </em>”</p>
<p>“… you have to admit though, it was kind of funny.”</p>
<p>“<em> Junsu!!! </em>”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>—◌—</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Minsoo was having fun. The past two weeks had flown by so fast, he almost couldn’t believe it when Junsu had told him that they only had a few more days before the full moon.</p>
<p>The shop’s business had picked up as the season turned colder (when Minsoo had asked why, Junsu said something about how the cold made people lonely, and that was too serious of an answer for Minsoo so he’d punched him in the arm), and Nari finally started showing up for shifts. Both her and Junsu worked their shifts together, and they settled into a routine of having one of them tend to the customer at the counter and the other chat with Minsoo.</p>
<p>At the moment, there were two customers, so both of them were occupied. Minsoo took the time to sit in the back corner next to the dried herbs, watching over Nari as she talked with the faint ghost of a customer’s loved one and Junsu renewing someone’s ghoul wards, thinking.</p>
<p>Junsu. Junsu’s and his friendship. Their relationship with each other, while it hadn’t radically changed after Minsoo had cried his eyes out on Junsu’s shoulder, had shifted a little. Yes, they were still teasing each other, still rolling their eyes at each other every few seconds, but an undercurrent had shifted slightly.</p>
<p>Sometimes, Minsoo would catch Junsu’s eyes watching him, more expressive than normal, something soft in them, but then the second Minsoo caught his eyes, the walls would go back up and they’d be back to snarking at each other as if nothing had happened. As if nothing might be happening.</p>
<p>It gave Minsoo whiplash, but that didn’t mean he disliked it.</p>
<p>After all, Junsu had been a <em> really </em>good friend; he had kept Minsoo company during these three weeks when he really didn’t have any obligation to. And he had helped him emotionally — which, and he means this with no disrespect to them, but he and his friends had never really… done that. And yes, it’s probably Minsoo’s fault that they didn’t talk about deep stuff together, but still.</p>
<p>Now, he was gearing up for the switch back, and even though Minsoo was very excited to be solid again and to finally go home and be with his friends, he was sad.</p>
<p>He knew that this entire situation was strange to begin with — usually you didn’t land yourself in a place where you could really only talk to one person, 24/7, and as a result force a connection with them — but he couldn’t help but feel that he would miss Junsu a lot once he went back to his normal life.</p>
<p>Yes, Junsu was Dongho’s brother, and maybe there was a connection between Daehyun and him through Minyoung and Nari, but their circles didn’t really overlap, did they? And it’s not like Minsoo would have any reason to come back to the shop and speak with Junsu after this ordeal was over.</p>
<p>But Minsoo didn’t like that. He didn’t want whatever they had going on together to end. But that was the thing, wasn’t it? How was he supposed to know if Junsu still wanted to talk to him once this all ended?</p>
<p>A shadow above him broke him out of his thoughts.</p>
<p>“What’re you thinking about, Soo-hyung?” Junsu’s curiosity leaked into his voice, and he gave Minsoo a ghost of a smile when he focused his eyes on him. </p>
<p>“Oh you know,” Minsoo replied breezily, hoping to escape the question without thinking about feelings and stuff, “stuff.”</p>
<p>Junsu raised an eyebrow at him. “Very specific, hyung.”</p>
<p>“Thanks, I try!”</p>
<p>Junsu sat down next to him, Minsoo bringing his legs up to his chest to make more room for him.</p>
<p>“Where’s Nari gone off to?” he asked, noticing that the shop was quiet.</p>
<p>“Oh, she decided to take her break right now. Something about going on a coffee run? But knowing her, she’s probably just gone to flirt with Minyoung-ssi,” Junsu supplied, snickering quietly. </p>
<p>Minsoo joined him, watching as Junsu’s eyes curved up slightly with his smile, and damn he wanted to kiss this boy.</p>
<p>Then his smile froze, eyes fractionally widening as he realized what he had just thought.</p>
<p>The thought hit him like a truck with no warning, silently, like Minsoo couldn’t hear the blaring of it’s horn to get out of the way. He was underwater, sounds around him muddled in the background. The thought, soft and not out of place, until Minsoo felt like all of his bones were breaking under the sheer weight of the realization.</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh my god. </em>
</p>
<p>That’s<em> what these feelings were??? </em></p>
<p>
  <em> Oh my fucking god I like Kang Junsu. Kang Junsu. Kang fucking Junsu. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> I have romantic feelings for Kang Junsu, what the hell. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Why am I so ok with this. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh my god I like Kang Junsu. </em>
</p>
<p>Junsu nudging his foot with his own snapped him back into the present. “Hyung,” he drawled (<em> oh my god has his voice always been so hot </em>, Minsoo thought, gulping), “what’s up? You’re blushing.”</p>
<p>Minsoo’s eyes widened, and he laughed nervously as he attempted to come up with a cover story. “Oh, ha ha ha! It’s nothing, you know, I was just, uh, thinking! About… something,” he said and <em> fuck that’s a really bad cover up </em>.</p>
<p>Junsu looked at him with a seemingly emotionless face, except it wasn’t since Minsoo could tell that he was laughing at him through his eyes, and goddamn, did he really spend so much time paying attention to Junsu that he could tell his emotions apart through his <em> eyes </em> ? Why was Minsoo only just seeing <em> now </em> how much time he spent paying attention to everything about Junsu?</p>
<p>Oh my god, all of those times he went with him to someplace like the movie theater and the coffee shop, those all felt like dates. Fuck, Minsoo had treated them like they were dates without even realizing! He mentally smashed his head into the wall behind him a few times and screamed silently.</p>
<p>“Okay, but seriously, hyung, why do you look like you’ve just had a horrible epiphany? You look like you want to scream so badly, oh my god,” Junsu said, exhaling a laugh at the face Minsoo made to him in response. </p>
<p>Minsoo made a low noise of unhappiness, dropping his head on to his knees, wincing when his forehead bumped into the bone of his knees.</p>
<p>“It’s nothing,” he managed to get out, voice muffled by his jeans.</p>
<p>“Hm? What’s that?”</p>
<p>Minsoo couldn’t see Junsu’s face at that moment, but he just <em> knew </em> that he was smirking at him. <em> FUCKING HELL— </em>ok this was fine, deep breaths, Minsoo, you’ve got this, just stay calm and answer his questions. Talk to him! Like a normal person! You can do that, right?</p>
<p>“I said,” he repeated, turning his head slightly so Junsu could hear him better, “it’s nothing.”</p>
<p>Junsu hummed in response, before answering. “Well, it’s clearly not just nothing if it’s got you so worked up about it,” he said, voice teasing, as his hand came up to rub Minsoo’s back.</p>
<p>Minsoo said nothing, just giving out another noise — why was he so <em> good </em> to him? Minsoo felt like he was going to melt into the floorboards and disappear forever.</p>
<p>“...you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Junsu said softly, unsure, and now Minsoo felt like a horrible, horrible person. </p>
<p>“No, no, it’s fine, I <em> do </em> want to tell you, just. Just give me, like, a second,” Minsoo said, words rushing out of his mouth. “It’s not like it’s even a <em> bad </em> thing, per se, just something… surprising? Maybe? And hopefully a good thing, all things considered.”</p>
<p>He took a few deep breaths, gathering himself, teeth worrying over his bottom lip.</p>
<p>The quiet settled down, cushioning around them, making time slow down — it was just the two of them, sitting between the tall, tall shelves, talking like they always were. </p>
<p>Minsoo could do this; it was just another question in the long myriad of questions that had been asked in the world, inconsequential, really. He could do this, so why didn’t he just… try? He owed it to himself, at least. And hey, maybe, and it might have been a big maybe, but <em> maybe </em> Junsu liked him back? What’s the harm in trying, right?</p>
<p>He took another breath.</p>
<p>“I…” he paused, before starting again. </p>
<p>“What are we?” Minsoo asked quietly, head resting sideways on top of his knees, looking at Junsu’s face carefully.</p>
<p>Junsu’s hand on his back stopped for a second, before continuing on its path over his shoulder blades. “What do you mean?” he responded, voice soft. Quiet.</p>
<p>Minsoo sat up, Junsu’s hand falling off of him as he turned around to face him.</p>
<p>“I mean,” Minsoo said, licking his dry lips in an attempt to gather some courage, “what are we, Junsu-yah? Like, other than friends?”</p>
<p>Junsu’s eyes drifted up to meet his. Minsoo stared back at him, not blinking, frozen like a deer in the headlights.</p>
<p>Junsu opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it.</p>
<p>“It’s just,” Minsoo forged ahead, “I might have just realized that I, like, like you? Like, <em> like </em> like you. And that I saw all of our outings together as dates, and that I kinda want to hold your hand, but like in a non-platonic way, and maybe go on more dates with you because I like you so much and oh my god I am so sorry if I’ve been reading this all wrong,” he blabbered, as he noticed Junsu’s eyes widen, “I just thought that maybe you might have felt the same way and I’m so sorry we can still stay friends, you can pretend I never said anything I promise I’ll get over it soon and you won’t have to worry about me being weird to you, I am <em> so sorry </em> I swear and I’ll shut up now.” </p>
<p>He turned his head away from Junsu and began to curse himself out in his head, because he was just so <em> stupid stupid stupid couldn’t even confess his feelings right oh my god Junsu’s going to hate him forever and— </em></p>
<p>“—ike you too,” Junsu said quietly, and Minsoo’s thoughts just. Halted.</p>
<p>He didn’t dare to look up at him, but he couldn’t help himself. “...what did you just say?” he asked, with bated breath.</p>
<p>“I said,” Junsu paused for a second. “I said, I think I really like you too.”</p>
<p>Minsoo’s head snapped up to look at Junsu. “You— you do?” He asked, incredulous.</p>
<p>Junsu nodded his head solemnly. “I do.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god,” Minsoo said, a smile growing on his face. “I really like you too, Junsu.”</p>
<p>“Yeah?” Junsu asked, and <em> oh </em> , he was smiling too. And if Minsoo thought that he had seen Junsu smile before, then no, no he hadn’t, because this smile was so, <em> so </em> happy that Minsoo thought he might cry from the sheer force of it.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he responded, veins thrumming with syrupy sweet energy, “I really do.”</p>
<p>They smiled at each other, before Minsoo voiced his thoughts out loud. “So… what now?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Junsu said, thinking, “we should probably wait to try… this out? Dating? Whatever we decide to do, so that we’re not still stuck in this situation while that happens. You know, I’d prefer it if you weren’t a ghost for all of our dates,” he joked, and Minsoo laughed a little.</p>
<p>“That sounds fine with me,” he said, “besides, that way I’ll be able to date you, like, properly and stuff.”</p>
<p>“Yeah!”</p>
<p>They sat there, smiling at each other, until Nari came back through the door, keys jingling loudly as she whistled happily. Then they scrambled back to standing, and smiled at each other once again before returning to their previous positions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>—●— </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The full moon was nearing; Junsu could feel it in the air.</p>
<p>While not all magic drew on the power of the moon, most types of magic surged under the moonlight. Nighttime in general was more preferred for rituals, especially for magic types that worked with the dark or death. The full moon was the most moonlight that someone could get, making it the best time to perform rituals or magic infusions. It just made everything that much <em> more </em> — more easy, more abundant, more <em> magical </em>, really.</p>
<p>If Junsu closed his eyes for long enough, he could feel the air around him humming, and the gentle hug of all of his magic around him. He could feel Minsoo’s presence without seeing him. The whispers of the spirits around his customers were amplified, making his and Nari’s job of talking to them that much more simple.</p>
<p>Of course, all of this also happened when the weather became colder, as the spirits generally liked the frosty air. The only time Junsu had ever bothered to ask why was back when he was still learning the ways of a necromancer under his mentor. They had said that the spirits thought that the cold made them feel more alive.</p>
<p>Junsu could obviously perform rituals and complete normal medium and necromancy things during the summer days, that was what he was taught to do. The moon in the cold was just the better, easier way to do it.</p>
<p>So the fact that he would be completing the ritual on the first full moon of the cold season was, while mostly a coincidence, going to make Minsoo’s switch a lot easier for him.</p>
<p>After talking with Nari to make sure that he had the correct items to re-switch their consciences, he finally had a list of what he needed.</p>
<p>The first item: standard, run of the mill chalk to draw the array. The shop already had that, so Junsu didn’t need to go anywhere to find some. They also already had purified water, salt and cypress ash, so they were good to go with those.</p>
<p>The second item: silver cups to hold the liquid. Junsu knew that they had those, as they had come in a set with the silver scrying bowls that Nari had ordered for the shop. And after digging them out of a box in the back of the shop (with Minsoo being absolutely <em> no </em>help, he’d like to add), Junsu had obtained those, too.</p>
<p>Dried chrysanthemum they already had; all Junsu had to do with that was grind it up with the marble mortar and pestle that sat on the shelf underneath the counter. The same with the lychee syrup (which, while it wasn’t necessary, would be good for both the taste and for good luck).</p>
<p>The one item that they didn’t have but needed was a dragon’s tear. And as much as Minsoo insisted that they could skip that one ingredient (because it apparently sounded “unsanitary as <em> fuck </em>”), Junsu knew that they couldn’t. It was one of the only ingredients that activated incantations for both spirits and people, and really, the only obtainable option.</p>
<p>“Ok, but Su-yah,” Minsoo said, exasperatedly, “where the fuck are we supposed to get a <em> dragon’s tear </em> from? I mean, I don’t exactly just <em> know </em> any dragons, do you?” He turned to Junsu, a dubious look on his face.</p>
<p>Junsu pursed his lips, thinking. “I mean… yes?”</p>
<p>Minsoo’s jaw dropped.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Trekking up to Taehyuk’s college dorm was quite an experience. As Junsu had never really gone to college (or visited Taehyuk outside of working hours, for that matter), he wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the cramped building that they walked into was certainly not it.</p>
<p>Looking down at the address on his phone, uncertainty clear, he made a face at the door that they stood in front of. Minsoo rolled his eyes, before knocking on it for him.</p>
<p>“Huh? Coming! — oh <em> shit— </em>” came through the door, followed by the loud thump made when someone’s body hits the floor. Minsoo winced, but before he could comment anything to Junsu, the door was yanked open.</p>
<p>The boy who opened it looked like a mess, sweater inside out on his body and brown, wavy hair looking like it hadn’t seen a brush in a few days. So really, the way that he always looked.</p>
<p>“Ah, Junsu-hyung!” he exclaimed, before shifting his gaze to Minsoo. “Oh! And who,” he very obviously looked Minsoo up and down, eyes sweeping over his chest, “are you?” he said, voice teasing. Both Junsu and Minsoo’s ears went red, but before Taehyuk could comment, Junsu interjectected by clearing his throat. Loudly.</p>
<p>“Taehyuk-ah, he’s a customer. Actually, that’s why we’re here,” he said, looking past Taehyuk into the messy dorm room, before sighing in disappointment and focusing back on Taehyuk. “We need you to cry. Like, right now.”</p>
<p>Taehyuk’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Wow, hyung, kinky! I didn’t expect you to be into that kind of stuff!”</p>
<p>Junsu felt his whole face heat up as he tried to splutter back a response. “Yah! You— fucking <em> brat </em>, see if I ever pay you again!” He shot a look of betrayal at Minsoo, who was trying to cover his giggles with his hand, as if that could hide them.</p>
<p>Taehyuk put his hands up in mock innocence. “Okay, okay, jeez! You don’t need to go that far,” he muttered, pouting. </p>
<p>After looking at the ceiling to keep himself from strangling the boy in front of him, Junsu looked back down at him. “Actually though, we do need some dragon tears. The shop’s supply is out and Minsoo here,” he nudged him with his hip, “needs some to return back to his original body.”</p>
<p>Taehyuk gave him a curious glance at that, but nodded. “I should have a few bottles stocked up from preparing for my last midterms,” he said, already turning to go get them. “Let me go grab some for you.” He disappeared into the room, descending on a pile in the back corner of the room.</p>
<p>“So… Taehyuk’s an actual dragon?” Minsoo asked, voice curious.</p>
<p>“No,'' Junsu replied, glaring at the kid’s back, “He's only half dragon. But his tears still work the same, so we — Nari and I — usually just get him to watch Finding Nemo a few times to stock up on dragon tears.”</p>
<p>“Wait, he cries watching Finding Nemo?” Minsoo laughed, forgetting to drop his voice down to a whisper when Taehyuk turned back to them.</p>
<p>“Old man, are you telling gossip about me now?” Taehyuk gasped, holding the small jars to his chest. “Wow, I can’t <em> believe </em> you! Blatantly spreading false rumours about me? In front of <em> my salad </em> ? I guess you’re not getting any of <em> these, </em> then.”</p>
<p>Junsu sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You know what," he said, "It's fine. I can just go find some other dragon in this city that won't keep ingredients from me because of their pettiness."</p>
<p>"Hey!" Taehyuk whined out. "You know what, fine! Take them!" He shoved them at Junsu, who quickly grabbed them to prevent them from crashing to the floor. "Go! <em> Go! </em> Just don’t keep slandering my innocent name!" He cried out dramatically.</p>
<p>Junsu rolled his eyes at his antics, but gestured for Minsoo to start leaving. "Uh-huh, sure Taehyuk. Goodbye now."</p>
<p>"Bye Taehyuk-ssi!" Minsoo smiled at Taehyuk, who reluctantly waved back.</p>
<p>"I expect full pay when I go back to the shop in the summer!!!" Taehyuk’s hollering bounced off the walls of the hallway around them. Junsu just looked Minsoo in the eye and smiled.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>—◌— </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Minsoo took a deep breath, stealing his nerves. He wasn’t nervous, of course not, he was just excited! Yeah, that was it, he was excited. Excited for returning back to his body.</p>
<p>Looking to not-Minsoo, who was standing awkwardly in the corner like he had been last time, and then to Junsu, who had placed a spirit box on the counter (“It’s so that I don’t have to translate for you again,” he had grumbled when asked), Minsoo felt the adrenaline rush begin to kick in. </p>
<p>Here he was, standing next to his alternate universe self in the medium shop at 2:27 in the morning, getting ready to unswitch forms. He could feel the excited energy humming in the air around them, coming from both himself and not-Minsoo. Of course he’d be excited! </p>
<p>Junsu gently cleared his throat to get the two Minsoos’s attention. “I’m ready for you both whenever you two are,” he said.</p>
<p>Minsoo looked over at not-Minsoo. It was still so strange to see his own features looking back at him, but Minsoo was ready to be back in his body.</p>
<p>“Hey,” he said, voice crackling through the spirit box. “I know we didn’t talk a lot while you were here, and that’s mostly my fault,” (not-Minsoo gave a small smile at that), “but I hope that you had a good time here. This whole alternate universe switch thing wasn’t something you signed up for, so I’m sorry about that, but I still hope that it wasn’t too bad.”</p>
<p>Not-Minsoo looked at the spirit box while he talked. “It wasn’t, thankfully. All things considered, I feel like things went pretty smoothly here. Oh,” he turned to look at Junsu, “thanks for fixing the whole ‘going to work’ thing, by the way. Jaewon-ah told me you called in to excuse us for a month, that was really nice of you.” He smiled in gratitude at Junsu, and he bowed his head in return.</p>
<p>“I will say though,” not-Minsoo turned his head back to the spirit box, “I am excited to be back in my body and go back to the Underworld. Minyoung-noona’s probably gonna have a lot of questions for me.” He laughed softly, and Minsoo joined him. </p>
<p>“Thanks again, though,” not-Minsoo said, voice becoming serious. “I’m sure that you played a big role in making my stay here as comfortable as it was.”</p>
<p>Minsoo smiled slightly at that, but refuted his statement. “Honestly, it was probably more Jaewon, Daehyun and Dongho than anything,” he responded.</p>
<p>Not-Minsoo smiled at that. “Don’t sell yourself so short. I’m you, remember? I know these things. Just accept that you look out for people.” With that, he turned to look at Junsu. “Anyways, we should probably get on with the switch back.”</p>
<p>Minsoo opened his mouth, then closed it, chuckling softly. Seems like his alternate universe self was just as stubborn about things as he was.</p>
<p>Junsu had them stand facing each other in the middle of the clearing of the store. Underneath their feet, he had drawn out two arrays that interlocked in the middle, with a circle of ash sprinkled around them. He carefully lit candles around their feet, before handing each of them two small silver cups, filled with a transparent liquid that glinted purple under the shop lights.</p>
<p>“Okay, when I say now, please drink your glass and wait with your eyes closed, and we’ll have both of you back in your respective bodies in a moment.”</p>
<p>After receiving nods from both of them, Junsu closed his eyes and held his hands out in front of himself. Mist began to gather around the three of them, obscuring Minsoo’s vision as it clumped denser and denser.</p>
<p>“Now,” came Junsu’s voice.</p>
<p>Minsoo downed the drink (<em> mmm, tastes like lychee </em>) and screwed his eyes shut. Three beats of his heart later, and he felt himself somersault out of his body, spinning spinning spinning and then—</p>
<p>He hit the floor with a loud thump.</p>
<p>Opening his eyes, nothing seemed different, but then he looked down at his arms, and <em> oh </em>, how he missed seeing his arms and not just seeing through them. It had worked!</p>
<p>Standing up quickly and ignoring the spinning of his head, he launched himself at Junsu, who stumbled under his weight before tightening his arms around him.</p>
<p>“It worked, Su-yah,” he whispered into his shoulder happily.</p>
<p>“It did,” he got in response, “and I’m so happy it did.”</p>
<p>They two of them stayed like that for a moment before the crackly sound of someone clearing their throat over the spirit box interrupted them. “I hate to interrupt,” came not-Minsoo’s voice, “But I do believe that I need to return home now, before the two of you get too caught up in each other to send me back.”</p>
<p>Though Minsoo couldn’t see him anymore, Junsu’s ear turning red gave him enough of a picture of what he must have looked like.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>After quickly sending not-Minsoo off and back to his universe’s Underworld, Minsoo began to realize just how tired he was. A quick look at the wall clock told him that it was 2:53 in the morning, and you know, that might be why he felt like he was about to collapse any minute now.</p>
<p>Looking at Junsu again, Minsoo couldn’t help but feel happiness bubble up inside of him. Finally back in his solid, proper human form, they could give each other a try. Maybe they wouldn’t work out, but Minsoo was optimistic — something told him this would go well.</p>
<p>“Well, Su-yah,” he drawled, standing on his tippy toes to hook his chin over Junsu's shoulder, “As much as I’d love to spend some more time with you, I do believe that it’s time for me to get going.”</p>
<p>Junsu turned around from putting the items used back onto the shelf, pulling Minsoo close into a loose hug. “Yeah?” he said, voice soft with exhaustion setting in. “I think I’d agree with you.”</p>
<p>He slowly walked him over towards the door, matching his slow and languid pace. “In that case, goodnight.” He began to pull away.</p>
<p>Minsoo gasped in fake offense. “What, no goodnight kiss?” he pouted.</p>
<p>Junsu raised an eyebrow at him. “No.”</p>
<p>“Pleeeaaase?” Minsoo asked, jutting out his bottom lip.</p>
<p>Junsu rolled his eyes, before swooping down and pecking Minsoo lightly on the mouth. It ended in a flash, over before Minsoo could even process what had just happened, leaving him dazed.</p>
<p>He still whined immediately, though. “C’mon, that’s it?”</p>
<p>Junsu smiled at him. “You look like you’re about to keel over, Soo-hyung. Go home, sleep. Then call me, maybe, and we’ll see.” His eyes crinkled up.</p>
<p>Minsoo’s eyes lit up eagerly, and he ran to the front door before looking back over his shoulder. </p>
<p>“You promise?” he asked confidently, but the slight tremor in his voice gave away his nervousness.</p>
<p>“Of course,” Junsu placated, a happy expression on his face.</p>
<p>“Good,” Minsoo said, smiling and waving at him before exiting the store into the cold night.</p>
<p>Yeah, it was good. Everything would be fine, he could just feel it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b> —●— </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Junsu sighed, slouching further over the counter.</p>
<p>It had been a month since he had last seen Minsoo. A month, and Minsoo hadn’t stopped by, called, texted, <em> anything </em>.</p>
<p>Minsoo was starting to feel like a fever dream to him, something that he had completely dreamt up, if not for the fact that Dongho had texted him in thanks the day that he had gotten back.</p>
<p>Nari had, for the most part, let him mope when he had the free time to — with the season picking up, Junsu kept finding himself being held up by customers, which helped him take his mind off of Minsoo for a while.</p>
<p>But it had been <em> weeks </em>. She wasn’t happy with him, he could tell; his comebacks to her insults had lost their snappiness as time went on, and his general good mood that had come with Minsoo was lost.</p>
<p>But that didn’t mean that she stopped trying to cheer him up. In fact, if anything, she doubled down twice as hard.</p>
<p>“Hey, hey Junsu!” she said, snapping him out of his brooding. She poked his arm when he didn’t react. “Junsu-yah, hey! Hey Jun-yah!” She frowned and began to poke him harder. “Yah! Look at me when I’m talking to you, brat, I’m trying to tell you something!”</p>
<p>Finally lifting his eyes up to look at her, she continued. “So, you know how you’ve been moping for the last few weeks? Yeah, well anyways,” she plowed on, “I was just checking my crystal ball, you know, like any normal person would, and I saw something quite interesting in it.” Her eyes glittered.</p>
<p>Ignoring the pull of deja vu that was inviting Junsu to reminisce in his memories, he looked at her with a blank face.</p>
<p>“And it’s about you,” she filled in, smiling. </p>
<p><em> This feels like meddling </em> , Junsu thought but didn't say. <em> Is it meddling? Is it meddling that this is? </em></p>
<p>“Okay, since you won’t ask, I’ll just tell you,” she said, rolling her eyes fondly. “Ready?” </p>
<p>She waited for him to nod before continuing, carefully enunciating her next words.</p>
<p>“You're going to have a good day today.”</p>
<p>Junsu let his eyes soften as he looked at her. “Really?” he said, hating the way that his voice carried his disbelief in it.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Jun-yah,” she said, patting Junsu on the shoulder with a smile, “you will. Just see, it’ll turn out to be a good one.”</p>
<p>“…okay.” He said, emotion in his voice evident.</p>
<p>“Seriously! Just trust me, yeah?” she said, before stepping away and back to the sink, where she continued to mix up the new batch of her cleaning solution.</p>
<p>Junsu looked back down at the countertop quietly, sighing. He sure hoped that Nari was right.</p>
<p>Hearing the door jingle as it opened, he started up his customer service line. “Hi, welcome to Hex You, how may I—”</p>
<p>He stopped as he saw who it was.</p>
<p>Standing at the door, leaning against the wall as he looked at Junsu with a sheepish, almost shy expression, was Minsoo.</p>
<p>“Minsoo?” Junsu said, mouth falling open.</p>
<p>“Hi,” he responded, waving slightly. “Um… does your shift end soon?”</p>
<p>Junsu, still trying to process the fact that he was <em> here </em> , <em> Minsoo </em> , who had fucking <em> ghosted </em> him for the past few weeks, felt his walls begin to draw back up. “No,” he said flatly.</p>
<p>“Actually,” Nari interjected, smiling at Junsu (that’s never a good thing), “his shift ends right now!”</p>
<p><em> What </em> , he desperately tried to convey to her with his eyes, <em> no it doesn’t </em>, but Nari just averted her eyes from his as she pushed Junsu out of the shop to where Minsoo stood.</p>
<p>“He’s done for the day, in fact!” she said, throwing Junsu’s coat in his direction.</p>
<p>“No, it really isn’t—” Junsu said, still trying to understand what was happening, but it was too late; Nari had already shut the door on the two of them.</p>
<p>Minsoo stuffed his hands into his pockets, before bringing his shoulders up to his ears.</p>
<p>“Hi?” he said meekly, very different from how confident he was when Junsu had last saw him.</p>
<p>Junsu didn’t respond to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nari watching the two of them through the dusty window. He sighed.</p>
<p>“Ok, you know what?” Minsoo said, his smile dropping, a more serious look on his face. “I’m just going to say this. I don’t mind if you never want to see me again or whatever, but I have to try for myself, at least.”</p>
<p>
  <em>Wait, what? Why wouldn’t I want to see him again?</em>
</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you call me?” Minsoo said, a sad, confused look on his face.</p>
<p>“Wait — why didn’t <em> I </em> call <em> you </em> ?” Junsu said, bewildered. “That’s not the right question. Why didn’t <em> you </em> call <em> me </em>?!”</p>
<p>Minsoo stared at him in confusion. “What are you talking about? Dude, I don’t even have your number, how the hell was I supposed to call you?”</p>
<p>And <em> oh. </em></p>
<p>
  <em> Oh fuck. </em>
</p>
<p>Minsoo must have seen something dawn on Junsu’s face, because he let out a nervous laugh. “You…” he trailed off, not wanting to be wrong. “You didn’t have my number either, did you.”</p>
<p>Junsu just shook his head at him, not even sure what to say. </p>
<p>“Oh my god,” Minsoo laughed for real this time, looking up at the clouds overhead. “I feel like such an idiot now. Here I was, thinking that you’d never want to see me again and just didn’t know how to tell me, when in reality, we’re both just two very, very dumb people.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Junsu said honestly, voice cracking. “We really, really are, aren’t we.”</p>
<p>Minsoo nodded at him, a smile on his face.</p>
<p>“Well,” Junsu said, clearing his throat slightly. “Fuck.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Minsoo agreed.</p>
<p>“Do you… do you still want me?” asked Junsu, uncertainty creeping into his voice.</p>
<p>“Can I be honest with you?” Minsoo responded, and Junsu flinched. </p>
<p>
  <em> Oh my god no he’s gonna say that he never wants to see me again after I fucked this up oh god please don’t say that please please please— </em>
</p>
<p>Minsoo grinned at him, eyes smiling at Junsu as he continued. “I don’t think I’ll stop wanting you for a long, long time.”</p>
<p>And <em> oh </em>, Junsu’s heart felt like it had just spun around in his chest, with how happy that made him.</p>
<p>He grinned back at him, and he felt like he was flying amongst the stars. “Really?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Minsoo said back without hesitation. “Absolutely, yes.”</p>
<p>Junsu took in a deep breath, trying to calm down his hammering heartbeat.</p>
<p>“What about you?” Minsoo asked, and the answer seemed so simple to Junsu.</p>
<p>“Yes, of course. A thousand times, yes.”</p>
<p>“Really?” Minsoo said, parroting back what Junsu had said earlier.</p>
<p>Junsu smiled at Minsoo. “Yeah, really.”</p>
<p>They stood there, smiling at each other.</p>
<p>“Do you…” Minsoo began, looking down at the ground shyly before looking back up at Junsu. “Do you want to go grab a coffee with me, then?”</p>
<p>Junsu looked at Minsoo, eyes soft. “I think I’d really, really like that.”</p>
<p>And they walked down the street, hand in hand.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>oh my god it's actually over, wow this was a long ride! if you stuck around until now and liked this, please leave a kudos and/or comment because i need validation :D (of course you don't have to if you wouldn't like to~)</p>
<p>also a massive thank you to <a href="">i</a> for beta-ing this mess, honestly without you and your guilt tripping i don't know how i would have finished this ^^'</p>
<p>thank you again for reading, and i hope that you all have a nice day!</p>
<p>title from <em>alligator</em> by of monsters and men<br/> <br/><a href="https://twitter.com/FlooRose12361">twitter</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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